Random Blue
by Golden Bearded Dragon
Summary: Harry Potter never wanted to be The Master of Death, but because of his dreaded Potter luck, that unwanted position will take him and his three-year-old godson to another dimension. Because Death needs someone to take care of the idiots that defy him.
1. Death isn't so scary

_**If I owned anything I could buy a mountain of cotton candy, sadly I own nothing, so I must eat bagels. Enjoy my story! :)**_

 _ **:::Changed Harry's age to 20, and Teddy's age to 3.::: 1/14/16**_

 _ **:::Fixed Grammar Mistakes; Changed Things to Past Tense::: 3/4/16**_

* * *

Harry Potter was not having a good day. In the morning, he woke up, the sun was shining, the birds were doing their bird stuff, and he very calmly sipped some Earl Grey tea on his couch.

Then they struck. It hadn't even been three years since the Battle of Hogwarts and there was already another idiot trying to take over the world. And these ones' weren't even original, they were just following Tom Riddle's legacy, spouting nonsense about how the Dark Lord was a martyr for their righteous cause and how they would honor his sacrifice.

And that wasn't even the worst part of the day.

Oh yes, it got worse. Much worse. Turned out these troublesome idiots decided they were going to off the savior of the wizarding world by dumping him in the Veil of Death as a sacrifice to get some stupid mythical stones that they believed could revive Moldyshorts to life. All this he had found out from a bulky henchman, the moron. Never reveal your secrets to your target.

They ambushed Harry Potter at his house; unfortunately for them, the idiots forgot that the Boy-Who-Lived only survived as long as he has because of paranoia. Extreme paranoia. Hiding as a fugitive for almost a year with death hanging over your head appeared to do that to people.

So of course his house and yard were littered with traps, and of course his wand along with a gun -muggle weapons were useful, purebloods never saw them coming- next to his morning tea. Harry smiled as he set off numerous traps with a flick of his wrist.

Ahh, how he loved the screams of Death Eaters in the morning.

Sadly for Harry, one of the masked men was actually competent. Or at least smart enough to duck and cover once he saw his target smile. Probably the leader of this merry band of turd-pies. He also didn't seem like one to waste time monologuing about how Harry was hopelessly trapped and how he'll take over the whole tri-state area. Or something. Anyways, back to the story.

Potter nearly became headless from a severing charm, but as he ducked he realized his mistake. The masked leader had two wands -most unusual for wizards, because you'd have to be ambidextrous to use both at the same time- and had shot two spells at Harry.

One was the severing charm, the other was a noxious yellow color and also was about to hit Harry in his chest. He managed to dodge in time so the spell only grazed his upper arm, but it still hurt like hell. The strange yellow spell had damaged the nervous system in Harry's shoulder, quickly making his whole arm numb.

 _Crap on a spatula,_ Harry thought, _if this makes me late for Teddy's birthday party Ginny'll rip off my limbs and beat me to death with them._ Now properly motivated Harry took cover behind his couch. The lone Death Eater shot an exploding hex in the direction his target took cover in. Potter used wandless magic to make a shield around himself, the poor couch was not so lucky. _Man, I liked that couch._

* * *

 ** _Fast forward to one hour later at St. Mungo's Hospital_**

 _SLAP._ Harry stared in surprise as his girlfriend removed her hand. Not surprise at being slapped, that happened a lot with their many fights, just surprise that Ginny would do that after he'd just been injured so much. Then she spontaneously burst into tears and ran out of the room. Women were strange, complicated creatures.

"What…?" He just stared blankly into space for a few minutes, and tried to comprehend why she would be so upset. He didn't die -even if he felt like crap- and he managed to take out over a dozen Death Eater's single-handed!

"She's just upset because you keep getting into such dangerous situations. She's worried about you, and she is starting to think you're doing this on purpose. She wants you to be normal and settle down, be who you were." A soft voice called out from across the white hospital room. Harry turned his head to see Luna sitting on top of the rudimentary dresser by the wall, she was wearing her patented butterbeer cap necklace and radish earrings.

"Maybe all the danger is just part of who I am…?" Harry whispered, more to himself than to his friend. "If I take that away… who am I? I can't _be_ normal, hell, I've never _been_ normal! My whole life I've had goals to live for, impossible tasks to complete, and now that it's over I just… I don't…"

"-have a purpose." Luna finished for him, her normally glassy-eyed gaze was serious and focused on him. "You feel as if you don't belong, as if you shouldn't be here, and you're right." Harry's eyes widened at the blonde's words. _Could she know…? But how would she make the connection when I was sure that no one would ever know -would ever find out about those marks. The mark of Death…_

Harry was disturbed from his slightly panicked train of thought when Luna handed him something and turned to leave; in his hand was a crimson feather. A phoenix feather. He looked up, startled, _why would she-_

"Because you'll need it where you're going. I'm sure the two of you will find it very useful." She gave a last, dreamy smile before she skipped out of the room, giving no heed to Harry's questioning splutters. Before Harry could have even begun to ponder if Luna was secretly a drug addict; he quickly pocketed the magic item as his room was interrupted yet again. This time by Mrs. Weasley, who was carrying a blue-haired toddler. A very distressed toddler.

The little boy wiggled free from the woman's arms and stumbled to Harry's bed. The twenty-year-old groaned as he sat upright and gently picked up Teddy and maneuvered the lad in his lap. He was still sore from the fight an hour ago, too bad the one that managed to injure him got away. _I'd have liked to stick a knife up his-_

As Harry's godson buried his little head into his neck and started crying, the young Potter wondered why his thought process kept getting broken. He mentally shrugged, _maybe it's just a side-effect of having Luna Lovegood as a friend._

He awkwardly patted Teddy on the back, not sure exactly what to do with crying children. Or crying anything, really. The toddler grabbed the fabric of Harry's shirt and sobbed into it. The green-eyed young man scooped up his little companion and hugged him close to his chest. _I need to cheer him up, he shouldn't be so sad on his birthday. I know! Molly can handle this, she understands children._ Before Harry could say anything, the room's third occupant gently patted Teddy on the head, and turned to leave.

"I'll give you two some space, if you need me I'll be in the waiting room down the hall." Molly Weasley smiled warmly and left, Harry could hear his mother-figure comment to herself about how cute Harry was as a father. _I'd make a terrible parent, I can't even calm down one kid…_

"Teddy? What's wrong? Please tell me… I can't help you if you don't tell me." Potter practically begged his godson, he really had no idea what he was doing, _what were Remus and Tonks thinking? Making me their son's godfather…_ The blue-haired bundle in his arms sniffled and mumbled something incoherent.

"What was that little man? I didn't catch it." Harry could hear Teddy attempt to take a deep breath while hiccuping.

"I j-just don' wanna lose you, you're l-like my daddy. You can't jus' leave me. Gramma wen' away and now I jus' hav' you.." Harry was shocked, he didn't realize how close Teddy was to him, but it made him feel strangely warm inside. He looked down at his godson as the little one shifted and met his eyes, Teddy's metamorphmagus abilities made his watery eyes change to emerald-green, the same shade as Harry's own.

"Teddy I-" Potter's throat felt rough as he stared into his mother's eyes. "I'll never leave you. I promise." He said, barely more than a whisper.

"Pinky swear?" Harry nodded and smiled as his adorable godson linked their fingers with a serious face that just was too cute. _I'm sorry, because of what I am, I won't always be able to be with you,_ he thought sadly. _But I will enjoy as much time as I can get._ Harry grinned and started tickling the toddler in front of him, Teddy started squealing in laughter in the way only small children could.

"Be happy Teddy, it's your birthday! How old are you now?" Harry said as he stopped ticking the little boy so the kid could breathe. After calming his breathing, Teddy grinned at his father-figure.

"Three! I'm three years ol' and soon I'll be five!" Teddy then pouted as Harry laughed at his declaration.

"Sorry little buddy, next year you'll be four, _then_ the year after you'll be five. So… two more years." Potter grinned as Teddy pouted even more, _please take your time, Teddy. There's no rush, I won't be going anywhere, I'll always be there for you, as long as you live… my son._

* * *

 _THE NEXT DAY, AT HARRY POTTER'S OFFICE IN THE AUROR DEPARTMENT~_

Teddy was helping his daddy with paperwork, he stamped the dates in the corners of the parchment -even if sometimes it was upside down- and when his daddy gave him papers to shred he would put them in the basket on top of the shredder -daddy said he was too little to use it- but the best part was when daddy was finished with his report thing and took him to the elevator.

The elevator was very fun, there was paper planes flying by themselves up on the ceiling, and a voice that told you the floor. Right then the voice -daddy had said it was recorded- told them that they were at the Department of Mysteries. Teddy did not like that place, it felt weird. Wrong. But daddy didn't understand, he just said that he was called to check something. He said it was not dangerous, but the wrong feeling just kept getting worse.

Daddy stopped walking and started to speak to some people with the same uniform as him. They were in front of a big room and Teddy could hear whispers from the other side. Very bad whispers, but there was one whisper that was calling for Teddy's daddy, he couldn't hear the words, but he knew what it meant anyway.

"Teddy, wait outside with the nice men and I'll be right back." Daddy smiled at him, and Teddy liked these smile; daddy only gave them to him. Teddy nodded and daddy went through the door, shutting it behind him. Even though Teddy didn't like the room with the whispers, he knew that daddy wouldn't leave him. When daddy promised to always be with Teddy, he felt something happen; something very tingly, but it also felt very warm. Like daddy's hugs, but it never left Teddy.

There was a bright light coming from under the door, the men by Teddy didn't notice anything, but he did. He bent down to get closer to the light, it was very pretty, and also had whispers. But these whispers were soft, and they asked him very nicely to enter the room. Teddy looked up and saw that the nice men that daddy left him with had fallen asleep. _They must have been very tired,_ the toddler mused.

As Teddy tried to reach for the handle, the door opened up by itself. Teddy thought it was a very nice door. He walked into the cold room, his small footsteps echoing fairly loud in the silence. It was quiet, but the whispers were loud, so loud that Teddy could almost make out what some were trying to say.

"D-daddy? Where did you go?" The whispers kept getting louder, they wanted something, and that made Teddy scared. _What if they want daddy? I-if they do.. I'll just have to stop them._ Teddy balled his little fists and confidently walked forward, his daddy was not going _anywhere_ without him.

But where was his daddy? Teddy kept on looking, it was a very big room; with a huge ceiling and rows and rows of benches. The only thing out of place was this weird black tarp in the middle of the big room that looked very old and was ripped in several places. The whispers were the loudest near it, some of the nice whispers were there too. Teddy was curious, so he walked closer.

"No! Put me down!" Teddy screamed as he was suddenly picked up, a hand covered his mouth and stopped the noise. The blue-haired toddler felt tears in his eyes, he was terrified. A strong pair of arms gently turned him around and Teddy relaxed as he saw the messy black hair and emerald green eyes of his daddy. Just as he was about to ask a question, his daddy put a finger on his lips and shook his head, Teddy stayed quiet. When the dim lighting caught a glimmer of red dripping down Harry's face the little boy sniffled and burrowed his head into his daddy's front.

* * *

Harry sighed soundlessly as he watched his godson attempt to stifle his sobbing. His head ached, Teddy was crying, and there was still at least two Death Eaters in the room. Turns out the ones who attacked him yesterday were just weak cannon fodder sent to test him.

Now Harry didn't have the high ground, he no longer had the advantage of home turf and enough traps to make an Indiana Jones movie writer proud. And if that wasn't bad enough, he had to keep a young child out of the range of fire. He knew something must have happened to the guards outside, they wouldn't have let Teddy out of their sights otherwise.

The Veil of Death seemed to beckon him, to call him closer, whispering that if only he took a few more steps, everything would be okay... Harry shook his head roughly, almost stumbling from the dizziness that caused. _Seems like_ _I_ _have a concussion, oh joy._ Teddy looked up at him in worry, Harry ruffled his hair to reassure the little guy. _We need to get out of here._

Merlin, now he understood what they meant by 'Potter Luck', only a Potter could find himself in such a ridiculous situation with absolutely no warning. How a routine check on the Veil of Death -which had been unusually quiet since The Battle of Hogwarts- could turn into an attempt on his life, even though he wasn't sure what the Veil could do to him after his... discovery. _And I don't want to find out._

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath, remembering the faces of his friends for strength. His friendship with Ron and Hermione wasn't the same after the war, they thrived in the peace, but Harry Potter couldn't do that; no matter what he did, he just couldn't stop looking over his shoulder. Harry was happy for them when he heard of their engagement. But they were no longer as close as they once were, the Golden Trio would never be the same.

Luna stayed the same, always cheerful throughout everything; she was his rock, his shoulder to cry on when Andromeda Tonks -Teddy's grandmother- passed away. Unfortunately, that closeness was the instigator of many fights between him and Ginny. Ginny... she never really warmed up to his godson, and that had always made Harry doubt the future of their relationship.

Harry's head throbbed painfully, the whispers from the Veil grew even louder, he could make out some words every now and then. He grunted and fell to his knees as he suddenly started to feel drained, like his energy was being siphoned away. He held Teddy close to his chest as he heard the remaining Death Eaters start to surround him. The Veil was deafening, his ears were starting to throb along with his head.

The Death Eaters circled them, their wands pointed towards Harry Potter's form warily. Teddy sobbed quietly into his chest, Harry felt his heart ache, _I can't let anything happen to my son._ The emerald-green eyes of the man who killed the Dark Lord hardened into stone. _I WON'T let anything happen to my son!_ Despite feeling beyond tired, Harry wearily stood up and glared with silent fury at the Death Eaters surrounding him. A few of the masked men took a step back at the terrifying look.

"Look at this! The great Harry Potter refuses to admit he's lost, even though he should just lie down and die like a dog. It was only luck that let him defeat our Lord." The Death Eater said, Harry recognized his voice from the day before when the man was yelling orders. _It's the one with the two wands, that son of a nutcracker._ Harry's eyes widened as he felt some sort of energy surrounding him, it was powerful, and the whispers of the Veil were no longer just whispers.

"W-what the... What is that?" The trio of masked men stumbled as they backed away from man cloaked in deathly black energy in front of them. No human on Earth should have looked like that; raven-black hair whipping around in nonexistent wind, emerald eyes glowing with power. The sight was horrifying.

"Is this what you call luck? Look at what you have decided to pick a fight with! I am The Master of Death... And I will not be put down by the likes of you." Harry Potter felt like he could do anything, and that invigorated him. Never before had he felt such power, it made him want to laugh at the pitiful sight of the so called "Death Eaters" in front of him.

 _These aren't my thoughts.. What is happening to me?_ All of a sudden time seemed to slow, then stop altogether. Harry gripped Teddy tightly as he fell, feeling more exhausted than he has ever been in his life. As he collapsed into unconsciousness the last thing Harry saw was a black figure walking towards him, with a shimmering, torn cloak.

* * *

When Death felt his master was ready he began to plot ways to take the descendant of the third Peveral brother away from this world. The world of magic no longer needed his master, but there was another universe that contained those who wish to defy him, much like Tom Riddle. And what was the best way to convince someone to do something? Their children of course, but his lord did not currently have an heir, so the small child that was given into his sovereign's care must suffice.

So when his lord made a promise to never leave the young metamorphi, Death made his move. Using an old kind of magic, Death bound his master and the young boy together with something akin to blood-adoption, he knew it was a success the moment the blue-haired toddler heard the voices of his portal. As the Entity of Decay walked out of his Veil and spotted his ruler collapsing from not being accustomed to his power, he smirked as he realized how soon The Master of Death would unlock his full potential.

Death noticed the toddler in his master's arms and his face distorted into something very remotely resembling a smile. The little boy peered curiously into the cowl of the entity's cloak, and Death couldn't help but wonder why his lord valued such a small and defenseless creature. He also questioned why the child did not run from his frightening form, instead the three-year-old was just sitting there, an inquisitive look on his small face. What a bizarre child.

"Is my daddy goin' to be okay?" As he heard the quiet inquiry Death, considered just knocking the boy out and sending the two through his portal, but he hesitated as he realized a clever way to insure his master had allies in the realm beyond his veil. Death smirked and collected his thoughts, simplifying the words in his head so the toddler in front of him would understand him.

"Your father is The Master of Death, and soon the two of you will be leaving this dimension. Here is what I'll need you to do..."

* * *

 _BEYOND THE VEIL, AT THE S.H.E.I.L.D. HELICARRIER_

Director Nick Fury was a man who people said could order his own mother's assassination if it was for the greater good. He was the man who put the Avengers together. He was level ten in SHIELD. The only level ten. When The Board ordered a nuke to be launched on New York he tried his best to keep that from happening. But his best was not good enough.

Even Fury was surprised by Tony Stark, the self-proclaimed genius, billionaire, playboy and philanthropist who saved New York and countless lives by flying the bomb into the portal above the city. Tony Stark, the man without a heart, risked his life selflessly.

Nick Fury didn't get surprised often, but when he did, he yelled orders and flipped tables. That rarely happened, if ever, because Fury was rarely wrong. Turned out people really weren't just letters in a document. It really was impossible to figure out what exactly went on in someone's head.

So when a month after New York was attacked by the Chitauri with Loki's help, Director Nick Fury spotted yet another portal on SHIELD's radar, he pulled out all the stops. Immediately calling the Avengers to deal with what crap this random portal would bring to this world, Fury wondered why his life was just so strange.


	2. No Assembly Required

_Alternative chapter titles:_

 _Bob the Flaming Chicken_

 _Clint Barton, Philosopher_

 _The Cake is a Lie_

 ** _:::Changed Harry's age to 20, and Teddy's to 3.::: 1/14/16_**

 ** _:::Fixed Grammar Stuff; Changed Things to Past Tense::: 3/5/16_**

 _ **I don't own Harry Potter or Avengers. Because that would be awesome and I can't have awesome things. ;( Thank you for fav/following this story! (Even more thanks to the reviewers(and the people who added this to their communities)) You people are awesome. Here, have some brownies. ;)**_

 _ **Enjoy mah story, brahs.**_

* * *

The Avenger's were cooped up in the damaged Stark tower discussing living arrangements -and eating donuts- when they got the call from Fury about an anomaly on SHIELD's radar. Apparently there was another portal that recently opened up in Maine, near the coast.

They were a little put off at first at how SHIELD seemed to think that the superhero group were their gophers, but they knew from recent events -coughLokicough- that portals could be very dangerous. And that they needed to get to the site ASAP.

As they boarded a jet to reach their destination quickly, Clint Barton -a.k.a. Hawkeye- and Tony Stark -you know who he is- started an argument.

"I'm telling you, it's definitely more aliens. Portals equal aliens. It's not that hard." Clint said.

"Obviously it's not aliens, birdbrain. Because if it was, then SHIELD would be freaking out, and Fury would be flipping tables." Stark answered; crossing his arms. Bruce -the green giant- sighed and shook his head at his teammates. Sometimes they were just too much. But it was nice to feel like he actually belonged to something; even if it was to this ragtag group.

"Hey Thor, is it possible that it was one of yours that traveled here?" Natasha -the infamous spider- asked the large blonde sitting next to her. The Æsir prince looked at her as he thought it over, but after a moment; he shook his head.

"Nay, the transportation from my world would be too distinctive. Though I am curious as to what would have the power to travel here; other than the Bifrost or the Cube used for the Chitauri invasion." Thor looked contemplative as he rubbed his chin in thought. Natasha turned her attention elsewhere once it was clear Thor had lost focus in the conversation.

Tony and Clint were still quarreling about the call. Clint kept saying it was aliens, and Tony wouldn't stop declaring that the only _real_ explanation was a science experiment gone wrong. She caught Steve's -the star-spangled man with a plan- eye when she rolled her own at the two immature team members.

"What do you think we'll find, Captain?" Black Widow questioned Steve. He shrugged.

"Honestly? I hope we don't find anything, and that it was just a mistake. But knowing SHIELD, it's going to be something unexpected." Natasha raised an eyebrow at that response.

"What do you mean by that? Even though I admit it's much better than more space invaders or a mad scientist's creation, you're being kinda vague." The redhead rested her elbows on her knees and clasped her hands together, resting her head on them. Rogers sighed in response, he was getting too old for this.

"What I mean, is that we don't know what to expect; there are too many unknown variables. Our best bet is to be ready for anything. We need to be able to protect ourselves and Earth." Captain Rogers nodded to his teammates who had all been silent while he was speaking.

"But Capsicle, what if they're friendly? Do we lock them up like some animal in a zoo?" Ironman snorted and narrowed his eyes at Captain America. "Don't know about you, but I'm not gonna stand for that. What if we start a war with another planet just because of a misunderstanding?" Tony inquired; his arms crossed over his chest haughtily.

"All I'm saying is to be prepared; we don't know what side they'll be on."

"There's not always two sides, sometimes people walk the gray in between. Other times both sides are so polluted that the 'good' or 'right' half is no longer discernible from the other." Everyone just stared at Hawkeye. Clint shifted uncomfortably. "We just need to think about what exactly we are trying to do here."

There was silence inside of the jet for the remainder of the flight. Every occupant was pondering what would happen next, and what choice of action would ultimately be needed.

* * *

 _AT THE SITE OF THE PORTAL_

When Teddy woke up, the first thing he noticed was how chilly it was. He shivered and drew his small arms around his knees. The last thing the little boy remembered was talking to the man in the torn, black cloak. And the things the man had told him.

 _So this is another dimension.. it still looks the same as Britain._ Teddy looked around and saw his daddy laying on the ground. He got up and stumbled over to his father, and sat down beside him.

He noticed it, because when Teddy pulled hard on the man's arm, he still wouldn't wake up. His daddy was hurt. _What do I do?_ What can a three-year-old do when there's no one around for him to ask for help? Teddy curled up next to his silent father and valiantly tried not to cry.

The man who wore the black cloak told him that he needed to make some friends so his daddy would be safe. The toddler still didn't understand how that worked, but the man from before had just explained that Teddy was special. That had made the little boy even more confused, but he was happy he was special.

Right now Teddy just hoped he was special enough to help his father. Because for once, he was the one saving his daddy. So the blue-haired child decided that he would do whatever it took to save the person who loved him the most.

He decided to search his father's pockets for something that could help. After a few minutes of searching, Teddy found a miniature bag. He remembered his Auntie Hermione giving it to his daddy as a present. The little black bag that was barely bigger than Teddy's fist was able to fit enough things to fill a small backyard shed.

He eagerly opened the clasps, but then remembered that he'd need magic to summon anything out of the enchanted bag. Teddy's shoulders drooped in defeat. He didn't have a wand, and even if he had, he wouldn't know what to do.

Teddy's head suddenly snapped up as he recalled what his aunt Luna -his favorite out of all his honorary aunts or uncles- told him about magic. He held out his small hand above the opening of the bag. Teddy thought hard to bring all the words his aunt had told him to the forefront of his mind, and closed his eyes.

" _Now, Teddy bear. Listen closely and I'll tell you a secret." Luna smiled warmly as the toddler jumped up and down in excitement. "I'm only going to tell you if you settle down." Teddy sat down obediently on the carpet._

" _Wha' are ya gonna teach me today, Auntie Luna?" The blonde woman couldn't help but notice the pure wonder in the boy's eyes. She had a feeling he would be great; with eyes like those, he'd go far in life._

" _I'm going show you how to find your magic." Luna said simply. Unsurprisingly, the child in front of her looked confused. She was never one to completely explain things. Gets people to think, Luna mused._

" _No wand?" Teddy asked; face screwed up as he thought how that would work. Magic came from wands, but where else could it come from?_

" _Of course without a wand, silly. You don't think all magic comes from a stick, do you?" She laughed as Teddy's face reddened. He pouted. "There is some magic in wands; from their magical core. But the real magic is right in here." She pointed to her chest, right above her heart. Teddy copied the movement._

" _Right here?"_

" _Yes, and as long as you know beyond all doubt that you can do it; you can overcome anything." Luna poked his nose and he giggled. "Magic is all about intent, as long as you believe. You can do wondrous things, even nowhere near a wand."_

Teddy opened his eyes, and concentrated on the thought of his magic. He then felt a thrashing, burning fire within him, and he channeled it into the hand outstretched over the enchanted bag. Focusing on the feeling of warmth, he let the magic go.

And flying out of the bag was a feather.

The dark red object fluttered for a second before he caught it. Teddy frowned as he inspected the feather. The little boy brought the feather close to his face as if that would make it spill its secrets.

The feather felt warm. It brought feeling into his fingertips in the cold air. Teddy concentrated on the warm feeling, he wanted enough heat for him and his daddy -who still wasn't waking up- so they won't be cold and get sick.

The feather grew hotter and hotter until Teddy dropped it on the ground. Blood red fire erupted from the feather, and ash swirled around in a sudden wind. Then, just as fast as the fire grew, it disappeared.

Leaving behind an elegant, red bird.

* * *

The Avengers had just landed a half mile from the site, and now they are meeting up with the SHIELD agents that had evacuated the area free of civilians. Captain Rogers led the group to a small band of SHIELD agents outside of the blocked off perimeter.

"Agent Fitz, Agent Simmons. Nice to see you two again, what's the situation?" Steve greeted the young agents. Fitz jumped, and he started to speak before Simmons cut in.

"Nice to see you again also, and everything is in order. We haven't made any contact, of course. The portal was quite small in comparison to the one over New York last month. Most likely they're not related." She said in a chipper voice. It's not every day you meet _the_ Avengers. The young man beside her cleared his throat.

"Also, it's a different power source than what was used before. This one was similar, but even though it had a smaller radius, it was still more powerful. Like it was concentrated. Another thing is that it appears as if the source of the teleportation was not the participant, or participants." Fitz added in, all in one breath. Simmons smiled at him, and nodded her head in agreement. Captain America looked thoughtful.

"So what you're saying is, is that whoever created the portal was extremely powerful, but did not transport themselves?" The scientist duo nodded in agreement. "I see, but we're still not sure what that means. It could be a way of banishing criminals for all we know."

"One word: aliens."

"Shut _up,_ Clint." Natasha hissed, and whacked him on the arm. The rest of the superhero group were just as annoyed with Hawkeye's statement. Except Tony, he was was just smirking. Bruce sighed and walked over to the two scientists in search of more detailed information.

"Well, are we going to meet and greet or not? I, for one, would love to introduce myself to whatever weirdo got himself thrown out of a portal." Tony grinned and swung his arm around Natasha, who swiftly elbowed him in the stomach. "Hurk! I thought we were friends?" The billionaire whined, clutching his middle in -obviously fake- agony. The redhead just gave him a Death Glare™ in response.

"The Man of Iron is correct. We should make greetings before our new guest takes his leave." Thor announces, and gestured past the barricade of SHIELD agents with his hammer. Bruce chose this moment to rejoin the group. He awkwardly cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention.

"I would just like to mention that the agents have discovered that their machinery is malfunctioning from some kind of radiation. It seems it's coming from where the portal was. Whatever it is that is there, the agents can't get it on camera because of the emission." Banner swallowed nervously. He didn't need any more radiation to mess him up.

"At least we know that whatever came through is still there." Tony muttered. "I just hope my new tech can counteract the discharge. I would rather not have my suit fail me when I need it the most. I don't need to be saved from falling to my death by a giant green gorilla a second time." Bruce sighed. Why did Tony Stark feel the need to give everyone outrageous nicknames?

"So we're going in blind?" Clint asked. As a master spy, he appreciated having information beforehand. One small, nearly insignificant fact could be the determining factor for surviving a mission. It was a miracle they had beaten the Chitauri; there were so many unknowns. He tried not to think about his part in Loki's plan.

"Looks like we are, but as long as we work as a team, I'm sure we can take whatever is thrown at us." Captain America placed his hands on his hips, and he nodded to his teammates. Whatever they faced, they faced it together.

"But what if it's alie-OW!"

* * *

Hawkeye massaged the bump on his head with his left hand, and used his right for signaling his team that he was in position. The Avenger's plan was to locate and surround the target, or targets. Clint's specialty made the rooftops the ideal lookout spot for him.

As he stealthily moved closer to his destination his ears picked up something very strange. Laughter. A child's laughter. The SHIELD agents said they had evacuated all of the people in the area, so why would there be a kid? He moved in closer, and what he saw surprised him.

There was a blue-haired toddler playing with an almost mythical looking bird. Hawkeye spotted the unconscious form of a young adult next to the little boy, late teens or early twenties most likely. He relaxed slightly as he detected no other presences in the area. Apparently these two people were the ones that went through the portal. _Dang, I really thought it'd be aliens. Now I owe Tony fifty bucks,_ Clint thought glumly.

He slipped down from the roof and landed across the street from where the child and the bird were playing. The majestic bird looked up and narrowed its eyes at him. The toddler noticed him after his playmate's behavior changed.

"Hi! My name's Teddy!" The little boy now known as Teddy cheerfully introduced himself. Clint walked over to Teddy; making sure to be as unintimidating as possible. That bird was scary. Clint didn't even know that birds _could_ glare before today.

"Hello, kid. Do you mind telling me how you got here, and who is your friend?" _And what this bird is,_ Clint added mentally. Hawkeye had to admit; this kid was cute. The blue hair was unusual, but it just added to his spunk.

"This is Bob, he's a phoenix." Teddy petted the silky feathers on the bird's head. The bird that was still glaring at Clint. "And this is my daddy." The toddler turned to the unconscious man. Tears gathered in boy's eyes. "But he's hurt, and he won't wake up." Teddy sniffled. Clint frowned, _this is definitely not what we anticipated._ The black haired man would need to see a doctor. Clint couldn't see what was wrong with him, but he was just too still.

"What about where you came from? Can you tell me that?" Hawkeye unzipped his jacket and wrapped it around the child; it looked huge on the three-year-old. Teddy giggled and smiled sunnily at him. _Why is he so dang cute?_

Unfortunately, before the toddler could explain; Clint's teammates showed up. Hawkeye sighed in exasperation as the other Avengers -minus Bruce, who stayed behind- came running with their weapons blazing. Only to stop and stare at the smiling little boy.

"Huh." Tony said eloquently; his suit dismantling itself and collapsing into a suitcase. "That was… anticlimactic."

"Are you a robot?" The boy with strikingly blue hair asked as he looked from the strange suitcase to Stark. The billionaire sighed. A child, why did it have to be a child?

"No, I'm not a robot. I have an electronic suit that I use to fight bad guys with." He explained. The boy actually looked interested, how old was he again? Like three, four? Tony didn't know much about kids, but even he knew that was not normal.

Then a strange red-orange bird pops up out of nowhere and pecks Tony on his nose. "Aaah!" Stark screamed in terror. The bird fluttered smoothly to the ground despite the inventor's wild flailing of limbs. "What is that _thing?!_ Some kind of demonic chicken, or something?" Stark pointed -slightly hysterically- at the strange bird. Said bird squawked dismissively at him and rubbed its head on the toddler's stomach.

"Bob's not a thing! He's a very pretty birdy!" The child defended his companion. The red bird trilled happily in agreement. Steve Rogers just face-palmed, even Howard Stark wasn't this bad. The Captain turned to Hawkeye.

"What exactly is going on here? I'm guessing these two, and the bird, are from the portal. Do we need a medic, and do you think they're hostile?" He asked Clint. The Archer just shrugged at his leader in response.

"The kids too advanced for his age, but I won't know for sure until his father wakes up." Steve raised an eyebrow at that, but young parents weren't that unusual in his time. People just liked to take their time nowadays. "The man's been unconscious the whole time; I say we get him medical attention just in case it's something serious. About their threat level…" Clint stopped.

"Yes?" Prompted Rogers.

"I sense something is off here, people just don't use portals to go on vacations. I think the kid's clean, but the guy he says is his father… he looks like he was in a fight recently. And not just some schoolyard squabble, either." As Steve contemplated Hawkeye's answer, Thor joined the duo from where he was studying the bird. Or more like staring in the most unsubtle way possible, with the the bird decisively ignoring the blonde man.

"That is not a normal avian, most likely the beast is a juvenile phoenix." Thor stated, taking the other two aback with his words. Steve just looked confused. Clint decided to help him out.

"Aren't phoenixes those mythical firebirds? Like the ones that when they die they burst into flames and rise from the ashes?" Clint asked Thor. Steve gave him a grateful look; the Capt'n didn't like it when he was not able to understand the whole conversation. He got enough confusion from Stark; every other sentence from the inventor's mouth was a movie quote, or from some modern event.

"Yes, they are rare, magical creatures, and are extremely loyal to their chosen hosts. Even more so to those that name them." Thor responded. And if this one's name was anything to go by, the too-smart toddler had a very powerful ally.

The three watched as someone broke up the disagreement of the bird's social standing, and Natasha Romanoff -of all people- walked up to the child and started talking to him; the little boy responded with something that made the assassin laugh. "Never thought she'd be so… comfortable. Around children." Steve said, bewildered.

"People aren't always what you think at first. Anyways, I'm going to go back and get a medic." Clint said distractedly as he left. After a moment pondering Clint's words -or at least Steve _thought_ that's what Thor was doing- the two teammates joined the group by the kid and the unconscious man.

"So what's going to happen with the kid? Who's going to take him?" Tony questioned the group from his sitting position next to said kid -who wouldn't stop poking him.

The looks he got back from the remaining members of the superhero team... were less than encouraging. He had a bad feeling about this. When Natasha smirked, that emotion was multiplied by ten.

"I have to go make my report to Fury." She said; still smirking.

"There's some things I could add to that report." Steve added quickly, and the two of them left Tony with just Thor for company. By this time the medics had arrived, and carried the black haired man away on a stretcher. Before they had left the area though; the child and the abnormal bird met each other's eyes. Something must have passed between the two; because after that the bird took flight, and landed right on the guardrail next to the unconscious man.

The startled nurses looked to the inventor and Norse deity for guidance; Thor nodded reassuringly and they kept pushing the stretcher. The blond man knew that the firebird will not leave his charge.

"So are you going to take the kid or-"

"I will take my leave; Father Odin would like to know about these developments." Thor unknowingly interrupted his companion. He was distracted by the odd markings on the forearms of the older portal-traveler, and the triangle-eye looked similar to something he had learned in Asgard's library when he was there with Loki. The thought of his estranged brother saddened him; he hoped this man was not on Midgard for the same reason. But if the tattoos were what he believed, this situation could be more dangerous than he first thought.

"Okay, then… I'll just drop you off at the SHIELD b-" Tony was interrupted yet again when the little boy hugged his leg.

"I want to go with you!" Teddy -he found out the boy's name when Natasha asked earlier- shouted loudly up at the inventor. Tony sighed, and he'd hoped to have dropped the kid off somewhere. Now staring into the boy's wide and watery eyes, Tony gave up. Beaten by puppy eyes, oh how the mighty have fallen. At least Pepper could help him out; his girlfriend should be back from her business trip.

Tony picked up the triumphant boy in his arms -just to make walking faster, he told himself- while he headed to the area with the SHIELD agents. If he was taking the kid to his house, then he needed to make sure there was no radiation on him. The plane ride back to his mansion in Malibu -his tower in New York isn't fixed yet- would be very dangerous.

* * *

Bruce was worried about his team. They had been gone for a while, and he almost wished he'd gone with them. Almost. Because he knows that if he let 'the other guy' out, there was a chance he wouldn't know who was on the right side. And he couldn't stand it if he hurt one of his friends -he was still tentative using that word- if he misread the situation, or the radiation that was talked about effected his more violent half.

But he was left speechless when Tony Stark came walking by… carrying a sleeping child. Bruce hurried over and strided beside the inventor. "What happened? I'm guessing he's not yours?" Stark glared at Bruce; who just snorted and shrugged his shoulders in response.

"Of course he's not mine, Banner. I'm not that careless. This here is Teddy, and he came through the portal. I'm going to get him checked out, and then bring him to Malibu. Just until his father regains wakes up from his coma or whatever." Tony answered, still walking. Bruce regarded the child warily, but he didn't sense anything off with his green side. He actually felt… calm. Strange.

"Oh, and Pointbreak left, he said he had to report something to Asgard; looked pretty worried too. Natashlia and Capsicle abandoned me to talk to Cyclops. No idea where Birdbrain is, though." Stark said after a moment. Bruce nodded at the information. At least everyone was okay, but he couldn't help but wonder what the blond had found.

They walked to the same agents as before, the two scientists seemed to always be around each other. The woman -Simmons, was it?- seemed excited to see them, and hurried over. Her companion not even two steps behind. Tony nodded in greeting, and gestured to the objects in Fitz's arms.

"Do you mind checking this kid for any radiation? He was at the site, along with a relative of his." Stark motioned with his free hand -the other one supporting the sleeping child- to the bundle in his arms. The kid still had Hawkeye's jacket around him.

"Sure, just hold still for a moment." Bruce watched as Simmons took a small mechanical instrument, and waved it over the blue-haired toddler. She stopped after a bit and pressed some buttons on the side. "All clear, but that might not mean much; the unconscious man I checked earlier had the readings all over the place. One second he was average, and the next he's exuding a strange energy." She said, shaking her head.

"It was like nothing I've ever seen before; though it strangely wasn't harmful. The bird was also quite disturbing, and he never left the man's side. Gave the doctors quite the fuss when they tried to remove him from the room." She said energetically. Before she was pulled away by Fitz to help out another group.

"What bird?" Bruce asked Tony, but they heard another voice answer.

"The bird was a Phoenix, and he picked the kid as a host. At least that's what Thor had said, Anyway." They turned around and saw Clint on the rooftop behind them.

"Why can't you just walk on the ground like a normal person." Stark grumbled to himself. Barton grinned as he backflipped off the roof and lands on his feet. "Show-off," Tony said.

"Oh, like _you're_ any better." Clint smirked, and ruffled the blue hair of the kid still snuggled in Tony's arms. Stark batted his hand away.

"Stop it, you'll wake him up." Tony hugged the boy closer to himself, and Clint just rolled his eyes.

"After all the excitement he's had today; he'll sleeping like a rock. Trust me." Barton told Stark. Then the Archer turned to Banner. "Turns out the radiation is from a power source. They discovered that the black haired man from the site has an internal system that is radiating something similar to what brought them here. The bird too, but since he's a phoenix, it's expected." Clint sighed tiredly. "Fury's going to freak."

"I don't suppose Cyclops will like me taking the kid back to my house, either." Tony exhaled dramatically; then grinned mischievously, making Bruce and Clint back up warily. "Which is exactly why you two are coming with me, Fury can't say no to that, right? We can watch movies, and eat popcorn. You can even help me come up with strange nicknames for people! What do you say?" Stark wiggled his eyebrows imploringly.

Bruce was backing away slowly, and Clint looked like he would like to punch Tony if Tony wasn't carrying a sleeping child. Stark tried hard not to smirk. "Unless you want this poor, helpless little boy to be put who-knows-where by SHIELD?" He sighed sadly; watching Bruce and Clint exchange a glance out the corner of his eye. Check and mate.

"As long as there's free food; I'm in." Clint stated. He and Tony stared at Bruce.

"I'll go-" Tony grinned, "but not for you, and I'm not helping you with your idiotic nicknames." But Stark was no longer listening, and was already strolling back towards where they landed the jet, holding Teddy carefully.

"Natasha and the Rogers took the jet." Clint said bemusedly as he and Bruce followed their friend. Tony smoothly turned around and walked the other way, toward the SUVs. Banner sighed, before he smiled ruefully. Who knew what would happen next around his new team?

* * *

 _ **AN: Even I don't know what'll happen next. Sorry, no Harry this chapter; I got carried away, but he'll be in the next one. :P**_

 _ **Please tell me what you liked, what you didn't, and what you'd like to see. I'm new at this so please don't stab my feels with your anger-knives. If you do, I'll just sic Bob on ya. ;)**_

 _ **One of my lovely reviewers suggested a Harry/Sif pairing. I love Sif. And even if I don't have a romance, I'd still love to add her into the story. ;) I don't write slash because I'm not into it. But even if I do a pairing, I won't have it take over the story.**_

 _ **Maybe you noticed the FitzSimmons I have in this chapter. That was unexpected, but I adore Agents of SHIELD.**_

 _ **The alternative chapter title idea is from the fic:**_ _ **I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,**_ _ **a great Star Wars/Harry Potter crossover written by kathryn518.**_

 _ **Also, Teddy and Harry are magical. So they defy logic, and therefore can be smarter than their age suggests.**_

 _ **Thank you for reading! And thank you Mommy, for looking this over and fixing things. *Hugs***_


	3. Meeting Death and Monopoly

_**I own nothing from these fantasy worlds, but I would rather live there than real life. Except Gotham. Why does**_ **anyone** _ **live there?**_

 _ **BTW, Harry is now twenty, and Teddy is three. I done changed it.**_

* * *

Harry Potter had woken up in a strange place; the walls were gray, and had no shadows. Or maybe the walls were the shadows. He was not sure. What he was sure of, was that he felt very comfortable here. Almost like how he imagined returning home after a long period of time away would seem. Not that he would know. Harry never had a real home, Hogwarts was almost like one, but after the war he couldn't stand going near the castle.

The place was quiet, and usually that made him suspicious, but right then it calmed him. He just lay there and looked around himself. Harry was content, and he wondered why he couldn't just stay there forever. Suddenly the background shifted, and he was standing in a forest. There was a cloaked man sitting on a bench in a clearing. Harry felt curious, so he decided to walk over and sit next to him.

"Aren't you going to ask who I am?" The man questioned after a moment; still looking straight ahead. Harry shook his head. "Interesting." There was silence for a while. Harry was not sure how long it went on, but he found he no longer cared. He noticed the area he was in was similar to the Forbidden Forest outside of Hogwarts. Tall trees, and a foreboding atmosphere. The dark figure beside him sighed. "When you reunited the 'gifts' I gave to the three Peverell brothers', I wasn't expecting this."

"Ah, so you're Death. What were you expecting? I never wanted power, especially not the Deathly Hallows." Harry responded. His emerald eyes focused on the shadowed woods. He tried not to think about the wand, cloak, and stone that caused so much trouble in his life. Harry heard a snort from beside him.

"Why are you talking as if you're already dead? No, that would be a waste. You're not dying until I say so; finding a good master who doesn't seek to take over the the universe is a very hard thing to do." Death said; amused at his master's various reactions to the meeting. Brings back memories.

"Why should I do what you say? There's nothing back there for me! You can have your Invisibility Cloak, and the Resurrection Stone, and the _bloody_ Elder Wand! Take all of them, and your mark on my wrists, take that away too!" Harry was standing now; he was just so frustrated and angry at how his life had been so far. Death didn't so much as flinch at the sudden volume.

"What about for your godson?" Potter's eyes widened at that; his pulse erratic because of fear for his Teddy. "Even if you weren't just unconscious from overuse of your new power, I still wouldn't let you die. As for your possessions and the mark of the Hollows..." Death grinned, turning his half-concealed face to Harry, "...those will stay."

Harry sat back down on the bench with his head in his hands. "I really don't have a choice, do I?" He questioned; admitting defeat. He doesn't know what Death would do to Teddy. He can't lose him so soon, he promised the boy's parents. So he'll listen.

For now.

"I'll just tell you that if you die now; the metamorphmagus will be left all alone, and he's currently in a place he's never been. A place without magic, at least not as plentiful as your home." Harry looked up from his hands. This information was new, but he was still not sure what Death was alluding to; where would he have ended up that has no magic? There was magic everywhere in the world.

The green-eyed man felt like there was something he was missing from the conversation. Something very important. "What do you mean by 'without magic'? What are you not telling me? Is Teddy safe?" Harry inquired of Death. He needed to know what was really going on.

"You'll find out soon enough." Before Harry could protest; the forest collapsed into darkness.

* * *

After Thor was transported back to Asgard; he walked swiftly to the castle -sharing a brief nod with Heimdall- so he could report on the disturbing findings he made about the most recent event on Midgard. The blonde prince needed to know what trouble these strange symbols would bring to the mortal realm. And his father would have the answers.

The marks in question had seemed to be a way of converting or channeling energy. A circle inside a triangle and a vertical line going through, It almost looked like a rune, but not one he recognized. He only knew the mark was meant to showcase the bearers power.

The power the man radiated was dark, but the man himself seemed separate from the energy. Either the portal-traveler rarely used the strength hidden in his veins, or it was newly awakened.

Thor's thoughts on the matter were forgotten when he was let into the throne room of Odin Allfather. The bearded man on the throne in front of him looked sad, the recent incarceration of his adopted son had hurt him. And now he looked every decade his age.

"What is it that has made you leave Midgard so soon, my son?" His father questioned. Thor suppressed a twitch at the way it was phrased, he knew Odin did not approve of his relationship with Jane Foster. The blonde also knew his father looked down on mortals, and so he would not understand Thor's need to protect the human realm. But the prince could make his own choices, with or without his king's approval.

"There was a portal, and one of the travelers might be of interest to you." Thor said calmly, despite being a little annoyed at his father's disinterested one-eyed stare. Odin shook his head at his son.

"What is happening to the mortals does not concern those of Asgard." The Allfather responded. Thor fought to calm his temper, yelling and breaking things would not help him get his message across.

"The man who appeared used some kind of energy. Magic. And he possesses strange markings that worry me." Thor then proceeded to explain what he saw to the now intently listening Odin. His father's eye was wide as he finished.

"You will need to go back to Midgard, and greet the new Master of Death…"

* * *

Jemma Simmons was just checking over the charts she had of the unconscious man in the hospital bed. His energy readings were erratic. Flickering almost like one would toss and turn from a nightmare. But the young, raven-haired man with the faded lightning bolt scar on his forehead was completely still. Silent.

It worried her; there was nothing wrong with him physically, but he wasn't waking up. "What is causing this? It's like all the energy has been drained…" Her eyes widened, "that's it! The radiation is a part of him, so if he used up a large portion of it in a short amount of time…"

Simmons rifled through her files, finally finding the recordings of the man's outbursts. "His body couldn't take it, so he collapsed before the drawback became fatal." The scientist sighed; she was used to her laptop, and her lovely, _wonderful_ tablet. But because of the radiation; she had to use a pen and paper.

As she read, Jemma found out something interesting; the energy outbursts were getting larger. It was gradual, but each one was greater than the one before. Like the man was trying to escape something that was within his own mind. But it also meant he was regaining his strength. Soon he'd be awake, and they'd find out what really happened that caused that portal he came from.

Simmons picked up her clipboard and was about to leave, when she saw that the phoenix perched on the chair straightened itself; staring fixedly on the the room's third occupant.

She turned around just in time to see as the man's emerald green eyes snapped open. And she felt herself losing against a powerful urge to fall asleep. Before she fell into unconscious, Jemma saw the overwhelming hurt and panic in his eyes. And she wondered just what on Earth could have caused him that pain.

* * *

Tony was actually having fun hanging out with the little guy, who had woken up during the the plane ride to Malibu. Even if the blue-haired toddler was disturbingly bright, and talked too well for his age. Stark thought he was okay. At least that evil turkey was somewhere else. That thing gave him the creeps.

"Tony! It's your turn, and Clint ate all the chips!" Stark sighed. If only the kid wasn't so _loud._ The four of them were playing Monopoly. When Tony first suggested it; Bruce said it was too advanced for the kid. The toddler disagreed, of course. So they started the game. And now; an hour into playing, the cruel child had nearly wiped them all off the board. Now it was just Stark and Teddy.

"Clint! Stop eating all my food!" Tony yelled; rolling the dice. Snake eyes. He smirked. "I got doubles, better dig your grave, boy. I'm going to take you out." He rolled again, and took one look before he shook his fist at the ceiling. "WHY?!" The dots on the dice added up to five. The exact spacing between Tony's playing piece and Boardwalk. Which was owned by a smirking Teddy.

"Bankrupt an hour in… that's just sad." Clint said with a disappointed look, and shook his head at Stark. Tony noticed that Bruce was failing to hide his grin. The jerks. He crossed his arms.

"Like you two are any better. Out after fifteen minutes, was it, Bruce? And Clint… dying five minutes into Monopoly takes some serious skill." Barton chucked the empty chip bowl at Tony's head. "OW! You turds, you could've hurt my beautiful face!" Stark cradled his bruised head in his arms, and hid behind the toddler, who giggled at the goofy man.

"Don't be silly, Tony. You should know better than to try putting hotels on Free Parking. That's stupid." The three year old told the genius. Tony glared at the backstabbing, uncool child. The nerve of kids these days.

Just then Pepper walked into the TV room. "Wha…?" She stared blankly at the child. _Oh, that's right. I forgot to tell her about Teddy…_ "Tony! You _better_ have a good reason for this! And for your own good, it should not start with 'it was an accident'." Stark wasn't sure who could glare better, Natasha, Pepper, or that flaming chicken.

"Uh… I can explain?" Pepper cracked her knuckles. Banner dragged an excited looking Clint to the kitchen, followed by a nervous Teddy. "I-I mean he's from work!" SHIELD is kinda work, after all. But Pepper's glare intensified further.

" _Oh,_ I'm _sure_ he is. So have you been 'working' while we were together?" All Tony could understand from this was one thing; Pepper had a mastery in glaring. Then he wondered if there was a college class that taught students how to intimidate by facial features. Pepper would've aced that class. He looked up and realized his currently homicidal girlfriend was staring at him, waiting for him to answer her.

"Uh... Could you repeat the question again?" He asked hopefully. Pepper's fingers twitched. Tony could already imagine them around his throat. He gulped. "I swear it's not what you think-" he ducked, and a thousand dollar lamp went crashing against the wall behind him. He stared at the shards wide eyed. "P-pepper?"

When Tony turned around he saw Teddy standing between the fuming redhead and himself. Was the kid planning on volunteering for tribute to sate the hunger for human flesh from the demented woman?

"Mister Tony was just watching me 'cause my daddy's in the hospital. So you don't need to hurt him, even if he doesn't like birds." The blue-haired kid said, and smiled widely at Pepper. She looked like she was about to scoop him up, and hug the life out of him. "I'm Teddy, nice to meet you."

"Yep, kid got spat out of a portal, so now we're just waiting for the father to wake up and tell us what happened." Pepper's eyes widened at this. Then narrowed in the direction of the kitchen.

"Come out, you two. What are you all doing here anyway?" She had indulged in her desire and was now cuddling a squirming Teddy. He was so squishy. Clint sped out grinning, then jumped onto the couch, Banner slowly walked in a moment after. Pepper knew who they were from when she helped Tony study the files that he was given about the cube, before the invasion happened.

Tony cleared his throat, he was still nervous even after his girlfriend's sudden mood change. Actually, that scared him even more. "Ah, these two are here as extra precaution. Mostly so the pirate doesn't make me walk the plank for taking an unknown into my house. Fury is also scary when he glares, but he does it too often for it to have full effect." Pepper shook her head tiredly at her boyfriend's answer.

Meanwhile, Teddy struggled desperately against the hug of the red headed woman. He regretted saving Tony from her wrath, if only he had known of the consequences! At least this nice lady wasn't mean like Ginny, that lady was only nice to him when his daddy was around. When he left, she just ignored him. But Teddy had a feeling this Pepper lady was okay.

Clint and Bruce just watched the interaction between the other three. Barton was reminded of his family, and wondered if the spirited little boy would get along with his own children. While Banner internally questioned if the blue-haired toddler really _was_ only three.

Pepper took Teddy into the kitchen to make pancakes -for dinner, because why not?- and was asking him questions about his life. As she put the batter into the frying pan she inquired about his father. Teddy answered from his spot on the counter.

"Daddy adopted me, 'cause my real parents were friends with him. But I still love him lots!" The excited child exclaimed, and grinned as the nice lady poked his nose. Teddy sighed, "I miss my daddy, but he should be all better real soon."

Pepper nodded, flipping the pancake over before letting it sit. "What's your father like? Like what kind of job did he do for a living, or anything else special?" She asked as she pulled out some sweet tea from the fridge. Pepper noticed the three Avengers inconspicuously listening in to the conversation. Tony couldn't help but notice how terrifyingly easy it was for Pepper to get information from people.

Teddy didn't catch on, and answered cheerfully. "Daddy used to be a prankster when he was in school, but all the time I've seen him he's been very sad. This happened after he fought in the war and helped win it, but lots of people died. Daddy has special talents." The boy was absently kicking his feet in the air from his sitting position.

"What was the name of this war? And what did your father do in it?" Pepper questioned the child. While the three outside the kitchen tensed, the redhead kept a soothing smile on her face. The kid contemplated her words for a bit, not even thinking about why they were asking about these kinds of things.

"Um, I think it was the Second Wizarding War, but it might have been the third, 'cause there was Grindelwald. Daddy was fighting against the bad guys who wanted to hurt everyone without magic." The adults frowned at this, they never heard of any Wizarding Wars. Or wizards. Something was fishy here.

Pepper filled a plate with some smiley-faced pancakes and placed it in front of the toddler. Teddy thanked her happily for making the food, and she smiled and patted his head. She then walked out of the kitchen to talk with the three superheroes.

Once they were far enough away from the happily munching Teddy, they started questioning each other over what they just heard. Or overheard, in some cases. Some pieces of the puzzle were missing, so they could only hypothesize about what really happened.

"There's no way that magic exists, the kid must be confused. I mean, _really_ , it's just not possible!" Stark said adamantly, and waved his hand around for emphasis.

"What if magic is just science we don't understand yet? Hundreds of years ago people didn't believe in electricity, but now we use it everywhere." Bruce responded, and crossed his arms. The two glared at each other.

"Girls, girls. You're both pretty, but how about we try to get to the part about a war that no one knows about, 'Kay?" Clint was standing between Tony and Bruce, arms placating like a peacekeeper.

The four of them were disturbed when they heard voices coming from the kitchen. "Uh, Jarvis? Who's in the kitchen talking to the kid?" The AI responded with garbled static. They exchanged worried looks. "Pepper, stay here, we'll check it out." Tony said, and one half of the Avengers closed in on the kitchen. They heard Teddy's voice from inside.

"Why do you look like a pirate? Do you have a pirate ship, and go on adventures?" Tony chuckled at the kid's questions.

He had figured out who was here, and walked right into the kitchen. And lo and behold, there was Nick Fury.

"You've spent too much time around Star- speak of the devil." The Director of SHIELD said, raising an eyebrow as he spotted Tony. The inventor just shrugged casually in response.

"I think I'd be a splendid role model for the little tyke." Tony said, and grinned widely at the man in the eye patch. "BTW, why did you make Jarvis all discombobulated? He sounds like an old radio." Fury stiffened.

"I didn't do anything to your AI, Stark." Tony's eyes widened, he could feel Bruce was tensing up beside him, and he saw Clint arming his bow. Fury continued. "I'm here because the man that was brought to the hospital woke up. He stunned an agent and disappeared. I believed he'd show up here, and it looks like I was right." Teddy looked up confused, but was soon distracted by something.

"Where's Miss Pepper?" As soon as the question was asked, Tony raced out of the kitchen. The lights flickered as he found her on the ground, he sighed in relief when he realized she was just unconscious. The hair on the back of his neck suddenly prickled, but before he could turn around, he felt a thin rod against his neck.

"Get up slowly, and I won't harm you." A voice said from behind him. Tony jumped up and spun around, he tried to land a hit with his fist, but his arm was caught and twisted behind his back. Stark gritted his teeth, the man was holding his arm in a viselike grip. "Where is the child?" The man said dangerously.

Just then his two teammates caught up to him, and stopped as they saw his captive position. Tony looked down at the sleeping Pepper, and then back to his friends. He could feel some kind of weapon pressed against his neck. He closed his eyes, this is not how Tony Stark is going to go out. He is Ironman. He's been through a wormhole. He's got this.

He opened his eyes and smirked, Hawkeye looked relieved, and Banner relaxed slightly. "How about we talk about this a little, huh? What are you doing here, exactly?" Tony said quietly, and he felt the hand holding the weapon tremble.

"I need Teddy, he's not safe here… and I know he's here. I-I'm not sure where I am, but can't get back." The voice sounded so young right then. Stark kinda felt sorry for the guy, and he was sure this was the kid's dad. As long as nobody panicked, this misunderstanding would be handled.

"The boy is fine, but we need to ask a few questions before you can see him, is that alright?" Tony asked slowly, making sure to keep his tone honest and open. So he won't alarm the man behind him.

"Y-yes, go ahead."

"My name is Tony Stark. I'd just like to ask what powered the portal that took you here." Stark said unhurriedly. The man took a deep breath before answering, making eye contact with Clint from across the room. Unknown to the others, the emerald eyed man used Legilimency on the archer to read his mind.

"I'm Harry Potter, and I was brought here by magic. And because of some awful, terrible luck." Harry then released the inventor. Tony turned around and watched as the man threw his weapon on the floor, and held his hands behind his head sheepishly. "Sorry, now I know that you took care of Teddy while I was unconscious, so I guess I can trust you guys."

Blood red flames suddenly burst into the room, revealing Bob perched on Harry's shoulder. Clint looked confused. "I thought he had chosen Teddy as a host…?" He asked, his bow lowered but still not put away. Harry shook his head.

"No, this phoenix is bonded with my friend Luna, she only gave me a way to summon him. Which my godson must have used somehow." Harry sighed tiredly. He had checked multiple magical sites -like the Ministry of Magic- before searching for Teddy, just to ease the suspicions Death had given him. And found nothing. Not even the pyramids had any traces of magic, and his homeworld-place-thing had so many curses and runes on the ancient tombs. Seems his Potter luck screwed him over again.

"Why would she name him Bob of all things?" Bruce asked, curious; despite still not trusting the wild haired man.

"Because Luna is capable of warping reality itself." Harry answered simply. He waved his hand in the direction of the woman who he had knocked out, and she started to stir. Tony ran over checked on her. "She's fine. And for what it's worth, I'm pretty sure I'm in another dimension, so I'm really sorry for all this."

"Traveling from other dimensions. Great. Just great. I'm Nick Fury, the Director of the Strategic, Homeland, Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. Or SHIELD, for short. Now, I hope you don't mind if we have a little chat?" The man in the black trench coat said, then Teddy came running out from behind Fury and tackled Harry's legs.

"I don't see any harm in talking to this world's government. It's just a few words, nothing more." Potter picked up his godson, and smiled at the Director. But both of them knew it was fake.

Because Harry James Potter was his own person. He has never bowed to his own government, and he won't do so now in this foreign world. They can try -and he knows they will- but Potters' always find ways around obstacles; he should know, he's living proof of that fact.

* * *

A.N. _**Thank you for all your support!**_ ;) _**And I'm sorry if Teddy seems OP,**_ _**that was not supposed to happen, and don't worry, he won't take over the story.**_

 _ **Someone said they didn't want a pairing for Harry, another suggested Darcy, and another Luna. Just to let you all know, IF I do a pairing, I won't have it take over the story. But dang, how am I supposed to even get Luna to the Marvel 'verse?**_

 _ **Please tell me what you liked, what you absolutely hated, and what you would like to see. Reviews get me to write, so… yeah.**_

 _ **I had a birthday and turned a year older, so my friends just had to come over and therefore delay my updating. I will try to update every week or so, but it will depend on how busy I am.**_

 _ **Thank you Mommy for looking through this for mistakes!**_


	4. Scary Bedtime Stories From Asgard

_**Gah! I'm sorry it's so short... ;( Real life just needs to bugger off.**_

 _ **I totally don't own this, but if I did, I would be so happy and I'd scare my family with all my creepy, happy giggles.**_

* * *

Harry James Potter has had a hard life, his parents' died when he was only a year old. He grew up with his magic-hating aunt and uncle, with a bullying whale of a cousin. He had never seen himself as special, but at the same time he knew he was not normal.

The only thing Harry ever truly wanted, had dared to dream of, was to have a normal life. A life with a loving family, and with people who accepted him for him. He once thought he had a chance to accomplish that dream. He thought that as soon as he left the Dursleys', that he would have a chance at a new life.

Then magic happened. A whole new world full of wonder and excitement, and everyone was just as strange as he was. Harry thought he had found his home, but he realized a little later than he should have that dreams don't come true. Real life isn't a fairy tale, after all.

So Harry was not surprised when he learned that Dumbledore, a man he trusted with his life and thought of as an odd grandfather, had planned to turn him into martyr ever since the night he had been orphaned. He had gone out into the forest to meet Tom Riddle fully prepared to die. But that wasn't what happened. No, just his luck that the _one time_ he was actually okay with risking his life, he was never in any danger of dying.

Maybe Harry should've taken the story of the Three Brothers more seriously. But even if he did, the whole 'Master of Death' role is somewhat misleading. The children's story made it seem as if the person that claimed all three Hallows could control Death, when it's quite the opposite, ironically.

Now he's in a new world, a world with superheroes, and a government that's just as controlling as his own. But that's the thing, they want to control him. They want to be able to conform him to their standards. Harry won't let that happen, but he'd rather not get into a fight when he just found his godson.

So he was going to have to use some misdirection. Not _quite_ lying, but not telling the whole truth, either. He just hoped that would be enough to derail SHIELD from anything too in depth about his old life on his home dimension, but enough that it's entirely believable. Telling them about magic -especially since they are already aware of his 'energy'- is a given, letting the paranoid government find out about his status as the one and only Master of Death; is a big no.

So as he sits in the intimidating "chat" room, he thanks Merlin that Teddy has Luna's phoenix in case they need to make a quick exit. Because as he listens to the overbearing silence, and practically feels the gaze of Director Fury, he realizes one thing. This will not be an easy talk. This man is a leader, and he will not believe in anything less than the complete truth.

Fury sat down across from Harry, and steepled his hands together. After a few more minutes of intently staring, he finally spoke. "You are quite the anomaly, Mr. Potter." Harry wasn't sure if that was a rhetorical question or not, so he decided to just be silent. The man's one eye seemed to bore into Harry's very soul. Searching. The emerald eyed young man didn't dare use Legilimency on the frightening figure in front of him.

"I'm not sure what to do with you, or what I _can_ do with you. So for us to both live peacefully in this world, we need to let each other in." The Director then proceeded to explain the recent happenings and the vague details of the Avengers; how and why the group came together and whatnot. A few things stood out to Harry, alien invasions mostly, and he was sure there was no such place called Asgard where he was from.

Harry was surprised when he felt a tingle of excitement at the thought of how unique this new world was. He was startled by the feeling, in his whole two years of being an Auror for the Ministry of Magic, he had not felt the adrenaline rushing through his veins, the glorious danger of knowing your next second could be your last. The adventure.

He had missed it; during his year long hunt for Voldemort's horcruxes he had been in constant peril, and the peace that followed the concluding battle grated on Harry's nerves. He was never one to sit still, but also too curious for his own good. Everyone knows what happened to the cat. At least the inquisitive feline just died and didn't have to go through the confusion of being transported to some place that almost seems as if it was dragged out of a comic book.

Harry was snapped out of his thoughts when Fury addressed him again. "So, now that I've said my piece, I guess it's your turn now." The rigid man gestured for his guest to start. Potter took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts. He had to decide what exactly to reveal about himself. Harry calmed his mind, then began his story; taking care to be just as vague as Fury was with his.

"I am what you could call a Wizard, and before I was even born, there was a prophesy…"

* * *

Thor had just arrived back on Midgard, and what he was asked to do greatly disturbed him. Now, if his father had told him to fight Frost Giants, he would be all in. Even learning to _knit_ with his mother would've been okay with him. But meeting with the Master of Death? Thor would rather jump off the rainbow bridge.

He walked inside the old Stark tower, that was currently being remodeled as the new Avenger's base of operations. Apparently friend Tony was not feeling up to replacing the other letters on the exterior. As he walks in he spots Rogers sitting on a couch staring at a child who peered back just as intently. A blue-haired child. The child that traveled with the Master of Death. Thor felt himself start to hyperventilate.

Steve turned around and noticed him. "Thor, nice to see you back! Things are a little insane around here, with the man from the portal waking up and all." The soldier said as he stood up and stretched, then he frowned at Thor, "uh, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." The prince of Asgard just sat down on a nearby chair, and groaned tiredly into his palms.

Teddy got onto his feet and ran over to Thor, the scarlet phoenix waddling on the carpet behind him. "Hi! Do you have a headache? Is it because you have long hair, or did you maybe trip on your cloak and bump your head? Oh, oh! Do you like mint brownies?!" The blonde looked dazed while he tried to find the connection between the little boy's questions. The kid seemed as if he could bounce off the walls; he had so much energy.

"Er, no. I just don't care for my job at the moment. And yes, I do like mint brownies; they're delicious." The kid grinned at Thor, and the prince thought that just maybe there was a small chance he won't be murdered for accidentally insulting the child's father. Not dying is always good.

"What happened on Asgard?" Rogers asked worriedly. Thor was acting a bit out of character, so something very big must've happened.

"Um… TherewerethesemarksandIaskedmydadaboutthemandnowIknowthatTheMasterofDeathisonMidgardandIhavetotalktohimbecausemyfathersaidso." Thor gasped for air after he spoke rapidly, but he felt slightly relieved after getting it all out.

"Wait, _what?!"_ Captain America said loudly. He wasn't exactly sure what the blond said, but from the little bit he understood, he could tell it was trouble.

* * *

A deep, bone-weary sigh could be heard from across the table. A lone eye stared out at the young man in front of him, and Fury wondered just how, after all that had happened to the kid in his previous world, that he still could be _sane._ At least somewhat; because no one is _completely_ sane.

"Well, that's it. That's my story." Harry ended his speech. But the Director could tell he was hiding something, just what, was inconclusive. Even though the emerald eyed man had spoken a lot about his life, Fury knew he wouldn't get everything from him. Every being in the universe had secrets, so he won't pry; besides, the shrewd man already had a good read on Potter.

Harry James Potter was a survivor.

He won't be held down by anything, but he cares for people. He cares about the world. So even though Fury knew that he couldn't trust this man, he also knew that Harry would give his life to save others. And that's the kind of person Nick can respect. Now came the hard part, the decision about where to to place the potential ally without seeming too intrusive or controlling.

As Fury thought this over, he noticed Potter drumming his fingertips on the tabletop. It was obvious that he was nervous. Nick suppressed a smirk when he realized he was intimidating the young man. "Something on your mind?" He asked mildly, startling Harry from his thoughts.

"Er, nothing much, really. Just… you remind me of someone. I've told you about Aurors, so you know what they do." Fury nodded, it was interesting to imagine a whole secret society with their own law enforcement and school for training new recruits. "Well, your paranoia makes me think of a man I knew by the name of Alastor Moody. He didn't trust anything, and for good reason; because he was impersonated once and locked up in a trunk, and no one found out for almost an entire year."

An eyebrow was raised from the eyed man, he was wondering where this conversation was going. "What happened to this man?"

"He died, murdered actually. But he gave his life to save mine. Mad Eye, we called him. He had one eye, and one made of magic; he could see through solid barriers with that." Harry said, reminiscing over one of the many great people who died to save him.

"That must've come in handy." Fury could tell that the kid needed to get this off his chest; plus it would give him more information about the strange newcomer.

"It did, it really did. He was a great man, even if he was a bit much at times. Mad Eye really cared about people, in his own way, of course. He fought in more than one war, and it had changed him. But through all that, he still believed that peace could happen. At least for a little while. He always believed in me, and I could never figure out why…"

Harry closed his eyes briefly and sighed. "Anyways, you remind me of him in that you both would do whatever it took to protect what's important. So I hope we can count on each other in the future." Emerald orbs gazed at Fury, and the Director felt a genuine smile curl on his lips. Maybe this won't be so hard after all.

Then their little chat was interrupted by a frantic-looking Æsir. Fury was not amused, he did not appreciate when his work was interfered with. Especially by blubbering Norse gods with no manners. "What is the matter?" The Director kept all of his annoyance out of his tone, of course.

Thor calmed himself, and turned in Harry's direction. "I've been sent by Odin to greet the Master of Death." Fury stared hard at the frozen young man, Potter looked like a deer caught in the headlights. So this was what he was hiding? Interesting.

"Um, I-I'm sure you've got the wrong guy. I mean, I don't look like someone who could have such a title…" The other two people in the room sighed at the extremely bad lie. Fury then turned to Thor, he needed to find out what abilities The Master of Death had in his arsenal.

"What do you mean by that?" The Director motioned to Harry's pale form, "and what, exactly, can he _do_?"

The blond prince took a moment to collect his thoughts, and replied, "each version of the legend is different, but the one I know the best goes thus: Death chooses an unaware champion, and that Chosen One must complete a series of challenges, or collect a trio of objects. On the small chance that the champion survives the tests, he will then be given the title of Master of Death."

Thor nodded to himself in satisfaction. "This rarely happens, but when a champion actually _does_ get coronated, all of Asgard rejoices; knowing that a great warrior has been recognized." Fury glanced at Potter, and noticed the kid was in shock. Before he could question how Harry didn't already know these things, the cape-wearing blond continued.

"The substantial power of Death's Master is not known to my people. All we know is that he has the power to call the misty form of someone's soul from the dead, and that he can help those who have had their lifespan tampered with." Thor seemingly finished, but then added in something he'd just remembered. "Oh, they also are tasked with defeating those who purposely go against Death."

The Director raised an eyebrow at all the information, "don't tell me this was a bedtime story on Asgard." The blond was suspiciously quiet. Fury turned his head to study The Master of Death. The young man was tense, probably thinking he was going to get attacked or something along those lines. _Thor said he could help someone that's had their life tampered with… I wonder._

The Director could practically feel the disbelief in the air after his next words, "well, now that we've got that cleared up; would you mind helping an agent of mine? He's had some trouble after a near death experience." Fury held his hand out to Potter, the young man hesitated, but then shook his hand after he saw a glimpse of his godson through the door that was left open when Thor ran into the room. Nick spotted a fond look on Harry's face when he looked at the child.

The eye patch wearing man smiled to himself, _it's nice to meet someone who actually cares about others. I hope we can work together, Harry Potter._

* * *

 _ **Back beyond the Veil~**_

The wizarding world was in turmoil. Their savior, Harry Potter, had vanished along with his beloved godson. The only thing that was clear about the incident, was that he had gone through the Veil of Death. The guards that were outside of the Department of Mysteries had been knocked out, and seven Death Eater's were found dead inside. Three of the intruders had no wounds to show how they were killed. The men had looked as if they were mere puppets with their strings cut.

Reporters had gone wild, making up all sorts of ridiculous rumors. Most of the articles revolved around two individuals: Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. They were often seen as heartbroken over their recent loss, but some newspapers portrayed them as feeling guilty for their friend's apparent death.

One magazine stood out from the rest. The Quibbler, written by Luna Lovegood. She had written that Harry was in a better place, and how he and Teddy will be happy where they are now. The article brought quite a few tears to the eyes of Harry's friends, his past colleagues in the Auror department, and others who had fought alongside him in the war.

* * *

 _ **A.N; I'm baaaack! Even though it really hasn't really been that long since I last updated... Anyways, I've decided to hold off on a pairing for Harry, I'll look back into it later. Maybe. Also, I**_ **know** **_Luna can do whatever she wants; including transporting to the Marvel 'verse. But that won't happen right now, sorry._**

 _ **I'm hoping to bring this story all the way to Age of Ultron. As long as I don't, like, die or anything. Hahahahahahaha! I bet some of you are wondering about the identity of the agent Fury wants Harry to fix, aren't you? Anyone who's seen Marvel's Agents of SHIELD would probably know who it is. ;)**_

 _ **Till next time! Ciao!**_

 _ **And thank you Mommy, for helping me with this, you're the best!**_


	5. Mr Agent

_**Sorry it took me so long. I got a bit sidetracked by school and I also had a few flames that distracted me... Anyways, thank you all for your support! Reviews really get me moving, so good job!**_

 _ **I do not own this or make any money off of it, so don't sue me. Unless you'd like to have whatever coins I find under the couch. ;D**_

* * *

The room was dark, and Harry felt uneasy standing inside of it, as if he would disappear as soon as he lost focus in his surroundings. When he looked around, he spotted a man hunched over and rocking back and forth. The emerald eyed man swore he heard quiet mutterings coming from the unaware, inactive SHIELD agent sitting on the floor in front of him. Phil Coulson stopped his movements and glanced up at the stranger with clouded eyes. The Master of Death shuddered as he met the gaze of the man. Something told him that Agent Coulson would have preferred to have stayed dead, and not brought back with inhumane treatments on Director Fury's orders.

They messed with Death, and this is the reward they received; a man stripped of his will to live that has become a shell of himself. But Harry had already known that Coulson was not the one who wanted this; no one would want this. From what he has heard, the man was a very caring person, and an excellent agent. Not at all like the broken man he saw now. All because Fury felt like Coulson would be needed in the future. But Harry knew that he'd have done the same in a heartbeat if there was a chance to save one of his own friends.

He had only agreed to help, because he had looked into his godson's eyes and saw the pure innocence that lay there. And Harry knew that he couldn't just turn down the request; besides, he's always had an incurable case of saving-people. It wasn't like he could just turn it off; that would only make the feeling stronger. Maybe it was because of his new title that made him really wonder if he could actually make a difference. Ever since the day he defeated Voldemort for the final time he'd tried to run away from his fate, in several different ways.

But maybe it's time to finally stop. Stop running, stop trying to be who he's never been. Time for him to start helping people again. And he can make the first step by healing this man's fractured mind. Harry knelt down in front of Coulson, and stretched his arm out before resting the palm of his hand on the man's forehead. Closing his eyes, the Master of Death reached outwards into the former agent's memories.

When Harry opened his eyes again he was no longer inside the room. He was standing in a cluttered building, and he looked around at all of the antique objects stored inside. There were dozens of musical records that appeared to be in top condition. A beautifully crafted cello. And many more collectible items; such as decks of dust-covered playing cards, and VHS tapes that were titled: The First Avenger. On the crooked shelves Harry spotted old, cracked picture frames of friends or loved ones; some were so faded he couldn't make out the faces.

He walked around for a few minutes more before deciding to get to work, and he opened the room's door. Immediately he felt a strong breeze nearly knock him off his feet. Harry's eyes widened as they took in the carnage surrounding him: everywhere the man looked, there were piles of demolished possessions. From broken pieces of wood, to shattered glass from destroyed windows, the clearing was filled to the brim with it.

"What have they done to you…?" Harry whispered, and he knew right then that he might have bitten off more that he could chew. But he wasn't in Gryffindor for his foresight, so he rolled up his sleeves and got to work. And he used magic to slowly repair and replace every last memory to its former glory. Or at least as best as he was able, since the man had been through too much to fix in just one visit. Harry lost himself in the work. As time passed the clearing became easier to breathe in, less musty.

His head had started to throb an hour before, only getting worse from then on; he knew he wouldn't be able to do any more here for today. As he made to exit the man's mind, he noticed a foreign substance that had been hiding behind some of the debris. Not quite a parasite, but also something that didn't belong. Harry went closer to the strange blue mist, and realized that the shade was some sort of memory that was unintentionally injected into the man. As he studied the mental projection further, he knew for sure that this was alien.

Harry was out of time for this visit, but he'd make sure to inform Fury of the delicate state of his former best agent's state of mind. He took a deep breath and concentrated on his magic, and he felt himself shift back into the outside world.

He blinked as the weird sensation left him. Harry looked down at the man and tried to spot any differences in his behavior. Coulson seemed to be the same as before Harry's mind jump, everything but his eyes. The former agent's gaze was more… solid than it was previously. The Master of Death took that as a sign of recovery. He then heard the door open, and turned as Nick Fury walked in with his cloak flowing behind him dramatically. Harry thought it was a bit much since he knew he was being watched the whole time from the suspicious one-way mirror on the wall that was actually an observation window.

"What did you find out?" The one eyed man asked solemnly.

"There's a chance at recovery, and I might have found a source within his mind that may be impeding his recovery." the young Wizard said as he stretched his stiff shoulders. Sitting unmoving for hours on end was extremely uncomfortable on the joints, plus his left leg had fallen asleep.

"I sense a 'but' at the end there." The stern man replied. Harry fixed Fury with look that showed he would not be deterred.

"I will only be able to help your agent if you tell me what you did to him." The Director's face blanked at the inquiry.

"I believe that I already mentioned all of the medical procedures that we used-"

"Not that, but you could never call those _medical procedures_ , what you did was wrong on so many different levels that I can't even… anyways, what I meant to ask was what you had injected into Agent Coulson's bloodstream." Harry interrupted, he was tired, and he wanted to get to the real topic without being sidetracked.

"There are things in this dimension that you cannot comprehend, Mr. Potter."

The Master of Death raised an eyebrow in doubt, and then answered with a hint of challenge in his voice, "try me."

* * *

Captain America was not sure what to do with the kid, and also a bit worried since the director of SHIELD just took off to who-knows-where with the blue-haired boy's father. Which was very odd, because what could've been so important that had made Nick Fury go to a restricted site with someone whose loyalties were unknown. The whole situation was just unnatural. But one thing that he knew for sure, was what made all these events happen: Thor had called the strange man 'The Master of Death', and if that was the catalyst for everything going on now, Steve wanted to know what that meant.

"Hey Thor, what do you know about the guy?" He asked mildly, and tried his best to sound inconspicuous.

The blonde man turned away from where he was building with the blocks Agent Hill had left for Teddy; the boy enjoyed knocking over the wooden squares after Thor made towers with them. The phoenix glancing at them in irritation every once in a while from his perch on top of a bookshelf. "Hm? Oh, this is the first one to be known of in my lifetime. My father used to tell tales of the Chosen Ones, and their glorious tasks they had to overcome to be seen as worthy of the title 'Master of Death'. According to legend, only those who never wish for, or seek power can become Death's champion. Pretty cool, right?" Thor had obviously been taught those last few words by some teenager, Steve thought.

"So… can we trust this guy? I mean, do you think he has any ulterior motives, or that he could possibly be controlling Director Fury? And I don't know about you, but he seems like he'd make a very dangerous enemy." Rogers questioned, and Thor shrugged.

"So do not make him your enemy, then."

"How am I supposed to not make him my enemy, become friends with him? Have him join the team? What did he have to _do_ , to earn a name like The Master of Death? Because he has the look of a soldier about him, and of someone who has fought in their own share of wars." And Steve didn't trust him. There was just something off about the man, something dark that made the striped soldier want to be as far away from him as possible. Made him feel as if he was back in the ice, where time stopped, and where he woke up alone. No friends left… everything was so different.

Teddy came over and hugged his leg, and as Steve glanced down at the grinning child, he wondered if the boy could sense his disturbing thoughts. Teddy also had blue eyes, but they had been green previously. That's… odd. Maybe he's just imagining things. And then Teddy's hair flashed to a sandy-blond before it changed back to the previous color; along with the eyes. Steve blinked, and shook his head.

"Does it really matter what he's had to do? We have all done what has been needed for our lands to thrive; yourself included. I am sure we can trust him, but we should be worried about the reason that brought the man to our world." The prince massaged his bearded chin while he answered the soldier's inquiry. He had not noticed the boy's strange ability.

Captain Rogers shook his head to concentrate on what Thor had just told him, but he was still a bit confused by the boy who had already tottered back to playing with the wooden blocks. "Reason? What do you mean by that?" He felt something heavy in his stomach as he asked the question he was sure he already knew the answer to.

"The Master of Death has only been known to visit somewhere if there was about to be a great number of deaths, or destruction." The Æsir responded solemnly, and Steve realized how very small he was in comparison to everything the galaxy holds. But he would not give up, because even if he couldn't trust Harry Potter, he knew that he'd need all the help he could get with this yet unknown catastrophe. Saving the world was not an easy task, but Captain America was an Avenger. They took down aliens, they can handle this. They just might need a little backup for the the next round.

* * *

"What in the name of Merlin's excessive beard dandruff, made you think that injecting someone -and one of your own agents at that- with _alien blood_ would be a good idea?!" Harry yelled in frustration. Was common sense not so common in this dimension?

"Mr. Potter, I assure you that the healing factor of the Kree was enough to heal most fatal injuries, even seconds before death. And the GH-325 serum could save so many lives, given time to work out the kinks." Nick Fury said in a placating tone. The green eyed man across from him only scoffed at his words.

"Yes, the serum can save their lives, but not their minds. How do you propose to keep-" he gestured to the still mentally fractured Coulson, "-from happening to everyone else who's injected?"

"Project T.A.H.I.T.I. can replace their memories so that they would be able to live normal lives. Before you came along, we were planning on using said project on Agent Coulson. We only needed to have a few more tests done, but hopefully with you here, we might not have to resort to such drastic measures. " The man responded with a slightly questioning tone; probably trying to figure out Potter's thoughts on what would happen next.

Harry shook his head, SHIELD was apparently going to wipe Coulson's memory of what really happened. That was something he couldn't just let happen, imagine all the distrust for his director when the agent regained his lost memories. These sort of things never end well for anyone… and dang his saving people thing! Why couldn't he just walk away from these troublesome situations?

 _Because that's just who I am._

That was right. He shouldn't stop being who he was, even if that person had terrible luck. Harry couldn't just quit caring about people, but that didn't mean he would work for SHIELD. There had to be some kind of middle ground; some way he could still help out, but keep his freedom to raise his godson away from any conflict or harm. What he needed was some anonymity. He was no longer going to be controlled by a secret agency that could be corrupted at any time. They do say that the bigger they are, the harder they fall. And SHIELD seems like a pretty big deal to people.

"Director Fury," Harry said with a charming smile; that instantly made Fury's eyes narrow. "how do you feel about the idea of a consultant?"

"...a consultant…? Hmm, it's not ideal, but I'll accept. _But_ , on a few conditions." The other man answered, and pinned Harry with a piercing gaze. "You will not, under any circumstances, reveal anything you have learned here today. The same goes for anything that may happen when you are called in for your ...expertise… in the future. Understand?"

Green orbs gleamed with understanding as Harry nodded his affirmation. He knew what kinds of secrets should be known, and what ones would be devastating if ever found out. There was so much that could go wrong… yet why did he feel so calm? It was as if his head was clearer, and like he could breathe again after holding it all in for so long. The excitement of not knowing what could happen next, something very dangerous, but Harry loved the thrill that he never knew he had missed. The thrill of the fight, that made his magic rush through his veins with renewed vigor.

"Well, I hope that this will be the start of a very mutually beneficial arrangement." They shook hands, and with a last glance at the -for once- peacefully sleeping Coulson, the two men left the room.

* * *

Harry carried a pooped out Teddy to their very spacious assigned hotel room. He set his half asleep godson on one side of the large bed, making sure to maneuver the blankets in a way that made sure that the little guy wouldn't fall off the edge as he slept. Then, using his magic, he carefully searched the area for any small, hidden electronics. _There_. Harry focused his energy on the tiny devices; while using magic to destroy tech was easy, using magic to alter what the instruments read… that was like trying to dig a small hole with a nuclear bomb. And since his meeting with Death, he wasntt so sure how off that would be.

He sighed as he finally got his magic to cling to the little electronics, now they would receive a harmless and boring illusion instead of what would actually be happening in the room. Harry stretched his arms, noting how he was not exhausted after performing the complicated wandless magic. When he first tried to use it in sixth year, he passed out from a depleted magical core from simply casting a _Wingardium Leviosa_. But now he has no trouble with it at all, Harry even felt lighter after using it; like there was less pressure building up inside of him. _Strange. I'll have to look more into that later._

He breathed in deeply, and set out to get some answers. Harry's hand went to his shirt collar and pulled out a small, shrunken bag attached to a leather cord. He ran his fingertips over the magical storage device, and thought about his friends. Hermione and he were so close during the hunt for horcruxes, but other than meeting for holidays and exchanging gifts, they rarely saw each other anymore. The same with Ron. _What did I do wrong to lose you? Both if you? Why couldn't I just be content with a peaceful life after the end of the war, if I had, maybe I'd still have you by my side now._

Startled by the tears running down his face, he nearly dropped the drawstring bag on the carpet. Shaking his head to attempt to forget about lost chances he reached his whole arm into the deceptively diminutive bag, and pulled out a stone engraved with the same the mark of Death; identical to the tattoo-like marks on Harry's forearms. This was the same rock that had been on a ring previously belonging to the Gaunts. Voldemort really had no idea he had turned one of the Deathly Hollows into a horcrux. Harry flipped the cracked stone over three times, and raised an eyebrow as nothing happened. The room stayed silent and still, no ghosts appearing whatsoever.

"Well, looks like someone's not as dead as everyone believed." The Master of Death chuckled lowly, remembering again what the Director of SHIELD had said about Captain America's adventures. "I guess I've got to really work on my saving people thing, it's been acting up way too frequently in this dimension. Oh well, at least I won't be bored." He looked off into space and smiled to himself, looks like he'd be someone who could make a real difference again. And with no prophesy to weigh him down, he was free to become who he had always wanted to be. He could help people again.

Harry moved over to the bed and kissed Teddy's forehead; when the boy slept his hair liked to change color, it was kind of cute, but he hoped he wouldn't have to deal with anyone who thought his godson's gift was inhuman. That would not end well, for the other party that is. Harry yawned _, best be getting some rest, I'll most likely have a very tiring day tomorrow._ After setting up a few wards to alert him if someone come into the immediate area, he shut his green eyes and instantly fell asleep. It had been one heck of a day, after all.

* * *

 _ **AN: Howdy. Sorry for the shortness again, but I really had a bit of trouble with this so I needed to just do what I could and post it. ;) I hope you liked it, and I'll try to update more regularly as long as I don't have anymore speeches to write. ;D**_

 _ **I wonder who can guess the person who's not as dead as he should have been? I know~ And more magic! Yay!**_

 _ **Nothing motivates more than reviews! But you don't have to.. I can just go back to my corner and cry... ;(**_

 _ **Thank you Mommy for fixing my mistakes that were caused from writing past midnight! Psst...! Don't tell her I stayed up so late. \\_(-.-)_/**_


	6. Cut Off One Head

_**I do not own Harry Potterific, or Revengers (no one ever even reads these).**_

 ** _Thank you guys so much for following, and for your many favorites! You guys are the best! *sniffles* I don't deserve all this..._**

* * *

" _Just get help! You- this isn't who you are, Harry! You need to tell us, or at least talk to_ someone _about what you went through!" A shrill, feminine voice called out._

" _And how would you know who I am anymore? Harry Potter may as well be dead; nothing of that idealistic teen aged boy is left. He died when he couldn't… couldn't save them…"_

Tears streamed down his face as he dreamed. Dreamed of all the lives lost throughout the war… Ted Tonks; killed by snatchers because of his muggle-born status. The grandfather of his godson, and also who the boy was nicknamed after. The easy going man had been married to Andromeda Tonks nee Black.

" _You can't save everyone, mate. So please don't hate yourself for that, you did the best you could."_

 _Dull, emerald green flashed with bitterness. "So many call me a hero, but I might as well have killed their lost ones with my own hands. What kind of person have I become…?" His hands shook with the feeling of being so completely lost, that he wasn't even sure if it was still_ possible _to find a way back._

Lavender Brown. Killed by Fenrir Greyback during the Battle of Hogwarts. Slashed through the throat. Like many other innocents, she never even had a chance…

" _Unless you stop all this, we can't see a future by your side. Don't you see how much you're hurting yourself?! As your friends we ask you, please stop. You're obsessed with finding out more about the three brothers, but I can see how you are wasting away. Please come back to us. We can't keep watching as you throw everything you have worked so hard for away."_

" _So don't." His voice was cold as arctic ice as he answered. "Leave me alone. Just forget about me. It would be better that way. Safer."_

Fred Weasley, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks; countless non-magicals, Sirius Black… The deaths burdened his soul like a dense, but slowly crumbling rock wall. Every stone that loosened was another piece of himself that he would never, _ever_ get back.

" _Why? Why do you push us away, Harry? You can change the Wizarding World with your influence as a war hero, you could even become the Minister of Magic! There's so much you can do, because people believe in you. So why are you running away?"_

" _I'm not running away. I am just tired of being used, of being told what to do. For the first time in my life, I'm able to be_ me." _Harry Potter smiled sadly. "The only thing is that I have no idea what that would be, but I know I'm no longer going to trust a government that had tried their best to spread nothing but rotten lies about me in the past. They may sing my praises from the rooftops now, but who knows when they'll stab me in the back." And if they did it once, they could do it again, Harry added in his mind._

The Deathly Hollows had consumed all of his time, and he had barely gotten any sleep then; nearly unintentionally starving himself because of the need for answers. Harry needed to know why _him_ , why pick the scared teenager that hadn't even figured out that his most hated teacher, was the one who tried the hardest to save him. Not until it was too late, and he couldn't even tell Snape how sorry he was…

" _You're not done yet. You may feel as though the world no longer needs you for it to thrive… and that would be correct. But there are still those who will need Harry Potter, even if they're not here."_

" _Luna? What are you doing here, and what the bloody hell are you even talking about?" Harry stood out in the pouring rain, he hadn't cared that he was getting more soaked by the second. He was in the graveyard where his parents were buried, and since earlier that day; Andromeda Tonks, as well._

" _Teddy needs his godfather, Harry. And you will always be needed somewhere." Luna smiled; her gaze, for once, was as sharp as a knife's edge. And her phoenix companion trilled in agreement from her shoulder. "I will always believe in you, and being the most recent Master of Death won't change that opinion."_

 _He stared. "H-how? No one knew… I thought…"_

 _She smiled; eyes soft and full of understanding. With a little extra something… mischief,_ of course. _"If I told you all my secrets, then I wouldn't be me, would I?" Luna giggled, and Bob preened his feathers smugly. "And since I can only be me, and you should always be you; let's get you to where Teddy is staying, shall we? You need a toddler around to keep you company, and Merlin knows_ I _can't fill that role."_

Harry opened his eyes, and felt a strange calm fill his body. Something foreign, that wasn't there before. But it felt familiar at the same time, and not at all like something that wished him harm. The feeling reminded him of the gentle sensation of the moonlight he'd remembered feeling on his skin during all those sleepless nights on the run from snatchers and Death Eaters. _Odd. But in a good way._

He looked over at his still asleep godson; who had somehow managed to find his way out of most of his blankets, and turned himself completely around, with one arm hanging off the side at the foot of the bed. Harry shook his head fondly at the blue-haired child's unwitting adorableness. _How many years until he grows up, and stops being my little boy?_ The man thought sullenly. He sighed as he looked over the room.

Nothing seemed to have changed since he fell asleep the night before. And he knew that no one had came in while he was resting, his wards were still strong. Come to think if it, the wandless spell he had used on the room hadn't faded in the least bit. Which was not normal, he had put an extremely miniscule amount of magic into the spell. And yet... it felt like he had just put it up. The magic hadn't dissipated at all.

Harry frowned. He couldn't just leave his magic inside the room when he left. But how was he supposed to get rid of it when the stuff refused to dissolve into the surroundings, like normal magic always did after a while?

While he thought about this conundrum, he felt something twitch in the air. Harry quickly surveyed the room, but nothing spoke out to his senses. He tried searching more thoroughly, and found that there wasn't anything there that should be worrying him. Just him, Teddy, and his magic. His _magic._

Harry closed his eyes and zeroed in on where he'd set up those wards. Then once he had found it, he noticed that the air seemed saturated in magic in just that spot in the room. _I didn't remember expelling this much magic from just that simple guarding charm. This is just not right. Why is this happening, what is causing me to do this?_

So Harry had decided to see what this could potentially do, and he reached out with his hand towards the swirling power that was invisible to the eye, and yet he still _felt,_ somehow. The magic flowed gently around his stretched out fingers and curled around his wrist. Before disappearing gratefully back inside his body to rest in its home in Harry's magical core; giving off uncountable, tiny whispers of thanks that he wasn't sure how he could even understand.

" _Bloody hell,_ my magic is sentient." Harry whispered in shock.

Magic was not supposed to have a mind of its own. And it was most definitely _not_ normal for the force to return to its caster. This wasn't just highly unusual. This was _impossible._ And likely something that would've caused a riot back in the magical world. _And when did I stop calling where I came from home?_

Harry shook his head. _Not important right now._ He needed to get ready for the day ahead. Needed to talk to Fury about their schedule with Coulson's healing sessions. Finding a place to live that _wasn't_ going to be bugged would also be nice.

 _Hmm,_ Harry hummed thoughtfully as he took out some spare clothes from inside the enchanted bag for him and Teddy to change into and placed them on the dresser in the rather large hotel room. Having a house or apartment to raise Teddy in should be made top priority. Maybe also enrolling him in a preschool soon. His godson was unusually bright for his age, and would probably benefit from an earlier education. Maybe. But sending him to school sounded better to Harry than hiring a babysitter; since he didn't have anyone that he trusted with his godson, yet.

Harry stretched his arms and yawned. Shaking the drowsiness away, Harry woke up Teddy by pulling the covers off of the little boy. The tousled haired child grumbled tiredly and tried to reach for the blanket, which caused him to roll off the side of the bed.

Harry sighed at the boy who was currently denying that the awake world existed. _Good thing I put some pillows on the floor by Teddy's side. But seriously, why do hotels have so many dang_ pillows _? It's just weird. No one needs that many pillows to sleep on. ...and why am I even thinking about this? I must still be tired._

"Five more minutes, daddy." Teddy's muffled voice called out from the pile of pillows.

"Nope. Get up, and I'll help you get dressed so you don't end up putting your pants on your head again, even if it _was_ hilarious." Harry said, grinning.

Teddy attempted to glare at him from the floor, but instead just pulled off a look similar to a wet kitten sulking after accidentally falling into a bathtub. "You're a big, fat meanie, and a jerk." He said with as much heat as a three-year old could produce.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Well this absolutely _spiffy_ jerk had very wisely packed your favorite t-shirt."

Teddy's eyes widened and he hopped off the ground, suddenly full of energy. "The one with the hippogriff?!" Harry nodded and pointed at the dresser where he'd put the clothes. "Yes! That's my lucky one!"

Harry watched bemusedly as Teddy carefully held up the red and gold dyed t-shirt adorned with a rather large, silver, winged, and curved beaked animal with dark green eyes; the cartoon beast appeared to have the front quarters of an eagle and the hindquarters of a horse. Teddy quickly took off the shirt he was wearing to put the hippogriff one on.

"How does it look?" The little boy asked, excited.

"Hmm. Well, I can't see the hippogriff, but I suppose that could be because it's backwards." Harry stated simply.

"What? Backwards… why do I always put my shirts on the wrong way…" Teddy mumbled as he wiggled around with his arms tucked inside the clothes item, attempting to fix the position of the garment. "Agh! I'm stuck." He said as he fell onto the floor.

Harry sighed. "Alright, let me help you get out of there." The Wizard said, and knelt down in front of Teddy to pull off the shirt. "You need to have the side with the tag at the back, see? That way you have the front with the picture of the hippogriff where people can see it, got it?"

"Got it!" Teddy responded, and tried to put the t-shirt on again.

Harry smiled softly as he watched his godson put on the shirt correctly, and then shook his head as the little boy then proceeded to trip onto his face while putting his pants on. _He's as clumsy as Tonks was. I wonder if it runs in the family?_ That thought reminded Harry of what else ran in Tonks' family.

Teddy was a _metamorphmagus,_ and how was Harry supposed to explain how that worked? The magic here was very different, not to mention that this SHIELD agency thing was already wary of him because of his Master of Death title. And Harry wasn't too sure how they'd react to a child that could change his appearance at will.

"Teddy? I need to talk to you about something." Harry said after he mulled over his words a little. _How do I ask a toddler not to use his most favorite toy?_

"Yes, daddy?" Green eyes stared intently. Teddy had managed to become fully dressed, only tripping flat on his face three times. A new record.

"Do you remember what I said about your ability?" Harry was now suddenly very glad that his magic was still corrupting any feed from the electronics hidden in the hotel room. This conversation might not work so well into his plan to make everyone believe his little boy was normal and nothing to bother worrying about.

"You said not to use it around people who don't know about our magic. But these people are nice, so we can trust them. They don't want to hurt me, I can _feel_ it." Teddy said cheerfully, smiling at his father. Sometimes his daddy could be way too paranoid about people and just needed to stop over thinking stuff. The people he met felt honest, and so Teddy trusted that feeling. Why couldn't his daddy do that too?

"What do you mean by _feel_ , and can you explain how you know this?" Harry asked. He was curious, but also a little worried since this was not exactly typical behavior for the three-year old in front of him.

And strangely enough, Teddy's attitude reminded him of how Luna seemed to know things that no one should know. But that couldn't be right, because _no one_ else could possibly be as odd as Luna Lovegood. She was the cherry that topped the milkshake of insanity. And there could only be one maraschino cherry. _Anymore and there'd be an explosion in the time space continuum, either destroying all life in the universe, granting everyone three wishes, or something equally as unlikely._

"Well, I just look at them and if they're nice, then they feel warm. Like sunshine, or hot chocolate. But if they only want bad things, then I feel cold -like going out in the snow without gloves on- and it hurts some, but the strange man with the whispers said I would be fine, after a while. And he also said that it would help you." Teddy rocked back and forth on his heels as he spoke.

"And the guy who thinks he's very funny, but isn't really, he even took me to his house. He knew that that was not what he should have done, but he said I was too cute to go to the SHIELD place." Blue hair flashed to excited neon orange for a moment as Teddy finished talking.

"...okay. But please don't tell anyone about your gift unless I say it's okay to do so first, alright?" Harry said in a no-nonsense tone. Teddy nodded, trying to look just as serious.

Harry watched as his little boy became distracted and started fiddling with the remote for the flat screen television, flipping through the channels to watch some cartoon showing a loyal team of super powered warriors searching for seven dragon spheres of great power, or whatever. Harry never really watched cartoons, the Dursleys had never let him use the TV.

Frowning at nothing, Harry's mind became preoccupied with what his godson had just told him. Harry was… disturbed, to say the least. It didn't take a genius to figure out who it was that had spoken those things to Teddy. But when had it happened? When had Death been able to talk to his godson? The only situation that came to Harry's mind that he, or someone else, wouldn't have been aware of the toddler's whereabouts, was when Harry was knocked out before the two of them came through the Veil.

 _I need to know what Death could have done to Teddy… but the question is, how can I learn more about a powerful deity, that may or may not wish to use me to do his morally-questionable bidding?_ Harry suddenly had an idea. That blonde man, Thor, seemed to have at least some knowledge about the Master of Death, and should at least know a smidgen of what Harry was supposed to be doing.

 _And maybe he'd have a clue about why Death sent me and my godson here, at this time, and why we were found by these people._ Harry finished getting dressed and washed his face in the sink, gathering up Teddy and his enchanted bag full of all of his possessions in this world, and opened the door to face the day. _Because it is no coincidence that SHIELD and the Avengers were the first to find us. I don't know why, or how, but Death is sure something big will happen here; I can_ feel _it,_ Harry thought. He knew in his very soul that his life was going to be quite… eventful, from this point on.

* * *

 _ **Some undisclosed location**_

 _Scratch. Scratch, and erase; that document can be discarded._ The man gracefully covered his mouth with the back of his hand as he yawned; despite being the only one in the enormous office. He rested the ballpoint pen down on his mahogany desk as one of his men knocked on the door.

"Come in." A smooth, confident voice called out. The man at the desk took another look at the papers in front of him, and tilted his head slightly as he studied them once again.

 _Masked men in new York! Could the Spider menace and the new, black-masked vigilante roaming Hell's Kitchen be working together? And what does it mean for the well-being of New York with all these super-powered tyrants running through the streets? Are the Avengers really doing the best they can for our city? Find out more on page 4…_

Suppressing an amused snort at the newspaper article, the man in the shadows looked up as his employee hesitantly walked in. Obviously he was carrying the message of something that was either going to set back their plans for a new world, or he had news of an event that was completely unexpected.

"Sir." The loyal agent halted in front of his leader's desk stepping forward only momentarily to place down a folder, facing straight ahead and awaiting orders. At his commander's nod, he continued. "There was a situation at the SHIELD base. A worrisome new arrival."

The other man smiled, but his eyes were without any emotion. Cold as steel in midwinter. "What kind of arrival could have made one of my men so… worried. Don't tell me there is another fool joining 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' now, is there?" He asked mildly, his tone sounding almost cheerful, and not yet making a move toward the bundle of new information directly in front of him.

"No, sir. The adult newcomer appears to distrust SHIELD and is not yet on good terms with the members of the Avengers. Though, if he continues the way he is, this highly gifted man may become one of them. If only for the protection of his young child." The agent concluded.

"Hmm. We'll need to keep an eye on him for now. Perhaps we should test Grant Ward's skill at espionage… what are your thoughts on the matter, Garrett?" White teeth gleamed with the placid man's words.

"He's ready. And I know he will do his best for the future of our organization. Ward will not let us down." Garrett said with conviction, sincerely hoping his young protégé would continue to outwit SHIELD and not get caught. They weren't ready to show their hand quite yet. But soon, very soon, they will overthrow Fury's little agency. And show the world the meaning of true strength.

The man at the desk threaded his hands together and smirked. They would turn this unexpected gift in their favor, one way or another. "Hail HYDRA!" He chuckled lowly as Garrett saluted and repeated the mantra before the aged man left his office.

Lifting the cover of the folder, the man at the desk widened his eyes, and grinned in genuine glee at what he read. "The Master of Death…. Oh, how I can't wait to see you join the winning side." There were many ways to persuade a potential ally, and some of the easiest ways involved the protection of a family member. And HYDRA would always be for a new, safer world.

A world full of equality, and peace. Everyone would be happy. _All that needs to be done,_ the man thought, perusing a photograph taken during the alien invasion that showed the blurry forms of the Avengers, _is to cut away what is unneeded._

* * *

 _ **Omake (behind the scenes)**_

"What do mean you don't have any results?" Director Fury said, gritting his teeth. These agents had one job, _one job._ And right now it seemed as if they couldn't even get that right.

"Sir. It's not anything that we're doing wrong, it's just that the blood sample refuses to be recognized by our microscopes. Almost like the molecules… sense what we're trying to accomplish, and hides any trace of DNA." Fitz replied nervously, yet he was also excited. He was talking to the _Director of SHIELD._ If only he was able to report something useful instead of this frustrating failure of technological advancement.

"So you are implying that the blood is _consciously_ evading any attempts we have made at locating the strain of DNA that harbors Harry Potter's abilities? Are we even sure that he's human?" The one eyed man asked with a sigh. Life just gets more and more complicated each day.

And the blood samples that they had taken from the wizard while he was unconscious, after his teleportation trip, was causing a lot of headaches in the science department.

"Well, yes. We do know he's human. What little we gained has told us that, but there's something extra that we can't identify. There's nothing like it, and it was almost as if they were... organized!" Fitz said in wonder, staring at the blood cells.

Fury sighed in aggravation, and walked out of the lab. As he strolled down the halls of his base, he only had one thought going through his mind; _what are you, Harry_ _Potter?_

* * *

 _A.N.: **Another chapter! Bazinga! I'm an awful, terrible person who should be thrown off a lake because of my late updates. :(**_

 _ **And credit for the Omake goes to Silvermane1, who gave me the idea in a review. Thank you! ;)**_

 _ **HYDRA is alive and kicking, for those readers out there who do not watch Marvel's Agents of SHIELD; which I will use elements of since there are huge time skips between Marvel movies, and the last thing I want to do is get ahead of the content. ;) And yes, the person who Harry figured out isn't dead is Bucky Barnes. Since that would be the next movie in the timeline.**_

 ** _My mother Betaed this; she is, and forever will be, beyond cool._**

 ** _Ciao, mah peeps! ;D_**


	7. Why Hello Again

**_Disclaimer: I am not doing the owning of the things._**

 ** _Enjoy the story, ya weirdos._**

 ** _Also, most of this was written when I was tired and/or sick with crapflu (not a real thing, and I just had a cold). So I hope you like this nonsense. Sorry for taking over a month to update._**

* * *

Harry was actually surprised at how understanding SHIELD was towards him not wanting to work with them full-time. He was a powerful wizard, he was an unknown with unknown motives, and he had suddenly appeared on their planet.

Harry knew how the magical government would have reacted if Norse gods had suddenly appeared in Britain on his home dimension, as in, they would react horribly. Britain's Ministry of Magic probably would've started a war with the Æsir; the rest of the magical communities would have most likely stayed out of it, since the British Ministry was the most judgmental and corrupt of them all.

But the way this organization was acting really shouldn't have surprised him as much as it had. Because they were obviously used to this sort of thing happening all the time, and were prepared -at least mentally- for all sorts of alien incidents.

 _Aliens._

Harry sighed tiredly and lightly massaged the bridge of his nose with his right hand, thinking about the extraterrestrial beings that had apparently invaded this dimension not even two months ago. _Life just gets more and more exciting every day, oh joy,_ he thought sarcastically.

"A penny for your thoughts?" A cheerful, feminine voice called out from beside Harry. He blinked as he realized that he'd stopped walking down the brightly lit hallway while he was thinking.

Turning sideways as he continued walking with his new companion, Harry smiled at the fellow Brit beside him. "I doubt that they'd be worth even that much, Miss Simmons."

"Nonsense, I even bet that your ideas could help us figure out more about how other dimensions differ from each other. So, why not just share your thoughts for the sake of science, Mr Potter?" Jemma replied, and tried to school her face to appear stern, her eyebrows scrunched up and lips pursed together. Harry was reminded of both Nick Fury and Professor McGonagall.

Coughing into his hand to subtly hide his amusement, which wasn't subtle enough if Simmons' narrowed eyes meant anything. Harry responded nonchalantly. "For science, you say?" She nodded warily, the two had known each other for nearly a month now, and so she knew enough about his personality to know that he was quite good at weaseling information out of people without them even realizing what he'd done until much later.

"Hmm, well I was just pondering the tolerance of this dimension's government and various protection agencies."

She frowned in confusion, eyebrows knitted even more in suspicion. "Tolerance? What do you mean by that?"

Raising an eyebrow, Harry shrugged and kept silent as he walked on. "Just some inane ponderings, don't think on them too much, you might strain something." She whacked him on the head for that comment, causing him to let out a short laugh.

He stopped as he came to a door that was locked with a key-card reader, and he turned once again to his friend. "Well, I guess this is where we part ways, maybe we can meet up later today for a bite?" Harry rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably, he had never liked saying goodbye, even temporary farewells made him fidget.

"Sure, and maybe then you can elaborate more on what you had been pondering." Jemma said happily, turning to leave for the science department located elsewhere in the building. Harry laid his hand on her arm, making her stop and glance at him over her shoulder.

"One more thing, Simmons. I… I would like to say, once again, how I really am sorry for knocking you out three weeks ago. I had just been in a fight before I had fallen unconscious and was brought here, and when I woke up in an unfamiliar place without anyone that I recognized… I guess I just panicked. And I know that's not an excuse, but I…" he trailed off and stared at the wall to his left, letting his hand drop from its loose hold on her arm.

His physical and mental stability had not been the best when he'd been transported, but that didn't make it any less embarrassing to remember how he'd reacted to the situation. Thank goodness for the level-headedness and quick thinking of Nick Fury, otherwise Harry would have most likely been in a whole heap of trouble.

"It's alright, and I completely understand. I know for a fact that I would definitely have more trouble if I was transported to a foreign world." She patted his shoulder gently in a friendly gesture, "but we're friends now, so don't worry about that so much. It wasn't like I was hurt. So, how about you, Fitz and I go meet up at our usual place about five?"

Harry grinned, nodding in affirmation. And then he frowned, remembering something. "Ah, I'll have to pick Teddy up from kindergarten around that time, is it okay if I bring him along, too?"

"Of course it's okay, the little munchkin is adorable. But why is he in kindergarten already? Don't you think three is too young? What if he gets frustrated with all the work?" Jemma frowned at him.

"Nah, he'll be fine. He's a smart kid. I'm sure he will have no time at all catching up. It would be even more troublesome to keep him away from more complicated work, it's actually a bit odd… anyways, I might be a few minutes late, but I'm positive that Teddy will be delighted to see you and Fitz. He's quite the fan of you two, you know." Harry winked. And Jemma smiled fondly at a memory of the always-smiling toddler.

"But, I'm still worried that I should hold him back some… keep him my little boy for a while longer." He said quietly, before shaking his head and plastering an easy smile on his face; all traces of doubt gone from his expression.

Simmons noticed the change, and she started to worry about the young man that was quickly becoming a close friend. It was rare that she was able to find a kindred spirit in someone who didn't work in the scientific advancement department. And even rarer to find someone who seemed to fit in so well with her other close friends. Maybe she could get Harry to open up later when the four of them met up later.

Looking at her watch, Jemma's eyes widened and she exhaled sharply in annoyance. "I'm terribly sorry, but I've got to be going now, I have a meeting with the head of my department. I'll see you around five-thirty, alright?" She said hurriedly, adjusting the straps of her bag over her shoulder. Harry waved goodbye to her good-naturedly and turned back to the door he was standing in front of.

Pulling out a specially made keycard, labeled in plain, black letters _Level 9,_ Harry then slid the plastic card into the slot, opening the door.

And once inside he was greeted with the sight of frantic personnel scurrying to and fro, moving boxes and carts full of unrecognizable objects and medical instruments. The busy agents ignored him as Harry avoided getting in their way, every once in awhile nearly plastering himself against the side of the hallway to make room for carts wide enough to carry a hippopotamus.

Harry finally managed to escape the stifling crowd -large groups of people always made him nervous- when he heard someone clearing their throat from behind him. He just barely kept himself from flinching and spinning around, but at least it was progress. PTSD didn't just go away if you ignored it, after all. Turning around leisurely, and with a polite, almost sincere-looking smile he faced none other than Director Nicholas Joseph Fury himself.

"Mr. Potter."

"Director."

Harry kept the easy smile fixed on his face and met Fury's stare head-on. After four-and-a-half minutes of continued staring, Nick's eye twitched. The young SHIELD consultant inwardly pumped his fist in the air and crowed like Peter Pan in triumph. Outwardly, he only raised an eyebrow at the irritated man in front of him, and silently implored the Director to say something, or just plain leave him alone to do what he did.

Fury sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose with an expression of defeated exasperation. "I'd have asked if you have been taking lessons from Stark, but I do believe I would be afraid of the answer."

Harry snorted. As much as he disliked overly powerful authority figures, Nick just had such a wry sense of humor that made it impossible for Harry to hold too much of a grudge. Fury was a man to respect, even if the wizard didn't really stand for the 'greater good' nonsense that was pretty much the exact reason SHIELD was created. If one of Harry's friends was in danger, he'd risk everything to save him or her, blast the mission.

… and that mindset was _probably_ the reason why Harry knew that Fury was not going to force him into becoming an agent. He wasn't ready. He really wasn't, and Harry definitely knew that as well. Harry also knew that he'd only really been admitted into the Auror Academy because of his reputation, and because the British Ministry of Magic wanted to get back into the public's good books after their complete and epic failure of keeping their country safe from the dark wizards.

As for why he even _wanted_ to become an Auror in the first place… well, that would be quite the long story.

"I'm sure you're wondering what all is going on here." Fury stated, his calm-attitude-that-only-rears-its-head-when-not-in-immediate-vicinity-of-Tony-Stark-and-certain-other-idiots making a reappearance.

"Oh, this? Nah, I had just assumed that someone had lost their pet Nargle at a train station." Harry grinned. Both of Fury's eyes were now twitching.

"Well, as I'm sure that is quite the… normal occurrence where you come from. But-"

"It's really not that often that it happens. At most, someone's pet Nargle runs away at a train station about thrice every purple moon."

Director Fury stared at Harry. Harry stared back, smiling.

"I can't tell if you're joking or not."

Harry shrugged, before replying, "believe whatever you want, this is all in your head." He then decided to keep walking in the direction he had been heading before he was stopped by useless conversation. Fury followed him, apparently trying to tell him about some new floaty-not-as-cool-as-a-spaceship-thing that the organisation had been putting together.

Harry wasn't really listening, he was much too busy thinking about his future. So far nothing exciting had happened, well, ever since he had been dropped off like a bin of rubbish on some other dimension without anyone, besides a toddler, that he knew or could trust.

Death hadn't shown up. At least not since the first time he'd met the person-thing the day he arrived in this other dimension. But still, Harry had somewhat expected the guy to show up and explain what it was exactly that he had to do as the current 'champion of death'.

Or at least tell him what he was doing in another dimensional plane in the first place.

Harry sighed wearily. Fury paused his talking mid-sentence while glancing sideways at Harry in deep thought, the one-eyed man long since realizing that the young man hadn't even been listening. They walked side by side, minds working on a new, yet unrelated project.

They both stopped simultaneously in front of a dark, windowless door located at the end of the hallway. Fury sighed as the two of them walked through the doors, knowing what he would find on the other side.

Even though Coulson's condition had greatly improved since the wizard had given his services, the once enigmatic and prized agent was still in a state of shock. And Fury had no way of knowing when his friend would be back, or if he even would. The only thing that kept the director of SHIELD from falling deeper into the pit of despair that came from sending operatives to their probable deaths, was that Phil Coulson was recovering.

Even if it was slow; one of his top agents, and a good man, was getting his mind back. How much he could get back was still to be seen, but at least Coulson wasn't an empty husk of the man he once was. There was still hope for the return of the hero who stood up to Loki, and whose (supposed) death gave the Avengers the push they needed to band together and fight as a team.

Walking into the room that contained one person that was on his ever decreasing and very selective list of friends, Fury let his eyes rest tiredly on the slightly more alive face of Phil Coulson. He could only hope that taking a risk such as what he was currently taking would pull off, because he didn't know how many more comrades he would be able to bury before the guilt of sending them out to their deaths became too much to bear.

"He's getting better. In fact, he appears to be recovering much faster that I had first thought he would." Harry spoke up warmly as he studied Coulson with a clinical viewpoint, obviously recognizing the look of guilt on Fury's face and correctly placing the cause.

Frowning at the young man who he still didn't trust, but respected, Fury spoke in the calmest tone of voice he could manage. "Of course he is. Phil's always had a habit of accomplishing tasks that were thought of to be impossible."

Harry smiled as he bent down to resume his continuous work of aiding Coulson's mind back into order. He could tell that despite how hard the Director's attempted to kept it hidden, the eyepatched man was a big softy.

"I'm sure that my patient will be close to, if not completely back, to his original psych level as soon as possible." Harry said with a genuine smile. Still, Fury's expression didn't look completely convinced. "Just trust me. I've been known to be able to defy all odds despite the stakes piled up against me. Your agent is in good hands, so go get some rest, you look terrible." Fury glared. Harry grinned unapologetically at the older man in return.

"Alright, then, Mr. Potter. I guess I'll leave you to your work. But there's no reason for me to sleep with all the paperwork I have to get done, absolutely no thanks to you. Just… make sure to contact me if there are any changes to his condition." Fury received an exuberant salute as he made his exit. "I swear, it's like having _two_ Starks sometimes." The man in the trenchcoat muttered after he had closed the door behind him, making his way down the hallway to do more of his seemingly unending paperwork.

* * *

Inside the room, Harry rolled his eyes childishly behind the back of the Director of SHIELD. He made a face as the door clicked closed. "What a stiff person. At least he doesn't wear grey all the time, because if he did I would probably have had to call him a member of Abnegation. Even though his temperament is more like Erudite, but he dresses like a total Dauntless." Harry continued to mumble to himself about different fictional book factions as he prepared to use Legilimency on the broken agent docilely lying on the bland cot in front of him, staring blankly at the ceiling.

"Here's to hoping this will be the day you'll finally come back, eh?" He said with a sad smile, and performed the wandless spell.

Harry was once again in the room that comprised the personality of who Phil Coulson was. It was looking a lot more tidy than when he had first been in there, less than a month ago. Due to the cleaning of the rest of the agent's mind and memories, the inner room's 'contents' looked to almost be in top condition. The Cello's strings were no longer coming apart in little threads, and the wood on the frame of the instrument appeared polished and shiny.

It was strange really, because Harry had asked why there would be a Cello of all things inside of Coulson's inner mind. Fury had shrugged and stated that Coulson didn't even play the string instrument, and that it was most likely a personal thing.

This only served to make Harry even more curious about his patient. He only hoped that he was doing everything right and that the man he'd heard so many great stories about would finally be back and whole so Harry could ask him about the finer details behind some of the more ridiculous stories of the much loved agent's accomplishments.

This was a good thing, it meant that the man's personality was healing, and that he'd soon wake up from his mental coma. The state of the someone's inner room was the same as their mental state, and the more Harry worked on the outer memories and mind of Coulson, the more the inner mind will recover.

Likewise, any and all damage -no matter how small and insignificant- inflicted to the inner mind, can have a dire consequence on the entire personality and mental state of a person. Which was why Harry had taken great care to leave the room full of old knick-knacks and collectible cards alone.

The room only signified the personality and current mental state of the individual whose mind it was located in, and so trying to repair that room would have just been the equivalent of slapping a band-aid on a third degree burn. Sure, it covered it up and made it look all pretty on the outside, but the problem was still there. Doing that would only serve to make it harder to actually treat the damage.

Harry had learned that early on in his Auror Academy days, since he had specialized in Legilimency and Occlumency because he knew how useful learning those skills would be. And learning those two skills would insure to at least make it very difficult for anyone to control or influence him ever again.

He wasn't anywhere near being the best, but he sure was not an amateur. And one thing the tutors at the Academy had agreed upon, was that Harry had potential. So, here he was, and he could very well state that he had become quite the proficient user of the mind arts.

After he felt his magical core drain till it was only about half full, which he knew meant that he'd kept a Legilimency spell active for somewhere around two hours, Harry decided to make an exit from the man's mind. Sweeping one last dustpan full of shattered glass, Harry evacuated the city themed mindscape.

The young wizard sighed tiredly as he stood up and stretched his back. He was walking to the door to get started on some paperwork that had to do with his consultant position with SHIELD, when he heard a sound of rustling cloth from behind him. Automatically tensing, Harry turned around. But what he saw left him staring in shock, jaw hanging loose in the most surprised expression he has made since being told he was a wizard.

Because sitting on the cot in front of him, was a very confused looking Phil Coulson, who was also very much aware of his surroundings. Fixing his perplexed gaze on the young man in front of him, the newly recovered agent spoke, "I'm guessing I'm back then, aren't I? I really hope Director Fury took good care of my cards for me, it wasn't easy finding ones that were in mint condition. They were practically vintage. Extremely rare, and it took me forever to get the full set."

Harry continued to stare at the man blankly, not at all comprehending the conversation. At least he had managed to place his jaw back into its normal position on his face and save a small fraction of his pride. He realized that he really should say something, introduce himself, sing a Disney song, or just do _something._

Gathering his thoughts on what exactly he should say to someone who just recovered from being a vegetable, he smiled nervously, and tried not to think about how much he was sweating. "Uh… hello? I'm Harry Potter, and I'm kinda responsible for your recovery, and stuff." Harry could've smacked himself, or jumped off a cliff. Whichever one would help him to stop being an idiot.

The agent looked over from where he was studying the SHIELD logo painted on the wall, and focused back on Harry, smiling genuinely at the young man. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Potter. I'm Phil Coulson, you can call me Phil, and I'm very grateful for your help." Coulson held out a hand, and Harry didn't hesitate to accept the greeting. Phil's grip was firm and unwavering. "But it would be extraordinarily helpful if I could talk to Director Fury, and then the three of us could debrief what exactly happened after I lost consciousness, does that sound good?"

Harry nodded and hastily brought out his phone to dial Nick about what had just happened. As he put the ringing phone to his ear, Harry thought about what Coulson had said. And how the man most likely was still in the dark about just how close to death he had been after being stabbed with Loki's scepter. _Well, this will surely prove to be an an interesting talk._

* * *

Jemma Simmons walked into her boss's office with a spring in her step after she had been given the okay by the secretary. She wasn't sure what she was being called for, but the middle-aged woman who was the secretary only smiled and gave her a thumbs up in congratulations when Jemma asked for the reason she had been invited to the office in the first place.

The British scientist decided to take that as a good sign and smiled genuinely as she entered, before halting in surprise as she spotted Fitz sitting in one of the two chairs facing the ornate desk inside the room.

Fitz was grinning excitedly and waved at her to come sit in the chair beside him. Simmons walked over and sat down, still a little confused but doing her best to at least try to pay attention as her boss shifted in her seat.

Anne Weaver was a stern, dark-skinned woman with her ebony hair pulled into a tight bun. She was the temporary Chief of the scientific advancement department in SHIELD. But she normally worked as the head of the SHIELD Academy of Science and Technology, where Fitz and Simmons had been the earliest graduates recorded.

Ms. Weaver smiled at the two agents on front of her. She had been very sad to let the two of them go from the Academy, and she'd be even more forlorn to send them away from the science department and off to their new team. At least she had managed to send them both to the same group, which took a lot of effort from her, but was completely worth it. Leo Fitz, and Jemma Simmons were a team, and a team that worked together like nothing else she'd seen. She was certain that they'd make her proud.

Smiling, Anne Weaver gave them both a pleased nod. "You two have been selected to transfer to a new team, a team which will be made up of agents whose skills are specialized to help in the operations that you will now carry out." She smiled once more at her prodigies, and said in a more hushed, but nonetheless heard tone. "Make me proud. Show the world how smart the two of you are, and always make sure to have each other's backs."

Weaver slid two identical folders across her desk, and couldn't help the melancholy she felt as the two young adults excitedly picked up their briefing papers. She certainly hoped that those two would stay safe. Or she'd definitely have words with Fury.

She changed her happy expression back to her previous stern one, and shooed the two agents out of her office, "now get out and leave me to do more of this wretched paperwork." Still, Anne couldn't help one more small grin at the thought of a future with those two growing to their full potential.

* * *

Harry sighed tiredly as he finally walked away from the building he worked in, the day's events had left him with a kind of weariness he hadn't felt in years. Glancing down at his watch, he noticed that he had fifteen minutes before he had to pick up his godson. Even if he ran the entire way to the kindergarten, he would still be ten minutes late.

Resolving to just call the kindergarten teacher and receive a scolding for being yet again late picking up his son, he pulled out his cell phone. When he held the device in his hand, he noticed the second hand on the watch on his wrist had stopped moving. Harry frowned at the watch, surprised that it had broken since he had just bought it two weeks previously.

That was when he realized that he no longer heard any noise from the street to the right of where he was walking on the sidewalk Glancing around in shock, Harry spotted cars as far as he could see, immobile in the usually extremely busy streets. And all the people around him on the sidewalks and what he could see through glass windows, paused in motion.

He continued to spin around in place, and tried to make sense of what was happening. Harry spun around as he suddenly heard footsteps walking toward him. He stared in shock at the tattered, black robes flowing on nonexistent wind of Death himself.

"So, I've heard you have some questions for me? And that you're wondering what kind of _purpose_ you are serving here?" The cool, amused sounding voice of the cloaked being in front of him made Harry's neck prickle. "I can't tell you those things. But, I will gladly impart some knowledge about what you can _do_ as the… whatever you are." Death smiled happily. Harry started to sweat.

* * *

 ** _A.N.: I was this close to_ not _end on a cliff hanger. But then I was like, naw bro. Just update the story already. So, here you are._**

 ** _And I'm sick right now so I'll just draw this Author's Note to a close because I don't really have anything else to say..._**

 ** _Um, thank you lots and lots for reading, reviewing, all the favorites and follows, adding me to your communities, and last but certainly not least, your reviews. Your feedback gives me the energy to keep writing, so thank you so, so much. :D_**

 ** _And yes, Sirius Black is in the character list. \\_(-_-)_/_**

 ** _Thankkkk Youuuuu!~_**

 ** _And thank you, mother, for being the first person to read this and laughing at my odd sense of humor. ;)_**


	8. Be Nice To Hobos They May Save Your Life

_**Please enjoy this chapter, yo. I hope it revitalizes your weary soul, and helps you to fondly remember what you had had for breakfast. *Bows at your hearty applause***_

 _ **Sorry it took so long, but hopefully this long chapter will make up for it. ;) Special thanks to musme for being my 200th reviewer! ;) Special mint chocolate chip brownies for you.**_

 _ **As always, I do not own either of these wonderful plot**_ ** _masterpieces. They belong to their respective owners and I make no profit from them whatsoever._**

* * *

 **Truly the righteous attain life,**

 **but whoever pursues evil finds death.**

 ** _Proverbs 11:19_**

* * *

Harry stared into the face of Death. Literally. Like, in the most literally literal sense ever even heard of in the history of anything ever. He could somehow sense that Death was smirking, despite not being able to see the person-thing's face from inside the tattered, black cowl. Harry only hoped that this would not end up in tears and/or him nearly dying. Again. Or, even worse than anything else imaginable: being transported to yet another dimension.

Time was still stopped around the duo, with every last object and person frozen in whatever position they had been in when Death had decided to make his surprise visit. Harry, meanwhile, was testing the limits of his Occlumency to keep any ounce of the fear he was feeling from showing on his face. The fear was not because he was afraid of Death. No, he was long past over that useless little thing that some people had that was referred to as the sense of self-preservation.

What terrified him was the unknown. Harry feared what he didn't know. Completely natural, but still a terrible thing to deal with that caused panic, that would lead to mistakes, which would further lead to those he cared about dying because of his own shortcomings.

Which was unfortunate, since pretty much everything that he had been experiencing since arriving in a new dimension was previously unknown to him. But he knew he could handle it, if he could take out a Dark Lord and all said Dark Lord's eight soul fragments, then he could most definitely live in a new world. Or, at least he was nearly powerful enough to take down anyone who tried to control him. He still had quite a few hidden tricks up his sleeves, after all.

But what he was _really_ worried about was Teddy. His godson was at kindergarten being watched by a magically concealed phoenix, who would make absolutely sure to keep the young Metamorphmagus out of harm's way. But a juvenile phoenix would be no match if Death decided to interfere. And Harry still wasn't quite sure what caused his godson to tag along on his little inter-dimensional trip.

 _Not helping anything to think about the reasons behind that now,_ Harry thought as he blinked his eyes back into focus. _Stop getting off track, I need to focus on now. Dangerous being standing straight ahead. Best to be alert. Constant vigilance, constant vigilance._

"Have you enjoyed your stay so far?" An amused voice questioned politely from Harry's left, making the young wizard turn sharply.

Death was sitting as nonchalantly as possible on the metal counter of a nearby hot dog stand, sipping steaming tea that seemingly came out of thin air. The cloaked being turned to look straight at Harry, and almost into his very soul. The faceless gaze made him feel insignificant, and small.

Harry was mentally sending his sense of awareness to sit in the corner for a time out as punishment for failing its job. _So much for constant vigilance. Mad-Eye would be severely disappointed in me for not paying attention to a potential enemy._

Harry frowned slightly, trying his best to repress an eye twitch. "Of course I haven't 'enjoyed my stay', what makes you think that I would enjoy being dropped in another freaking dimension without any clue as to what I'm even doing here!" The Master of Death aimed a ticked off glare at the cloaked figure.

Death stretched his arms above his head, his brief yawn interrupted by the being's back popping. "Ahh, I'm definitely getting too old for this stuff." Death muttered to himself, and hopped off of the hot dog cart. Harry could hear the mutter, of course. And the wizard crossed his arms over his chest, confident that nothing the cloaked being would ever say next could possibly sway him.

"What about Leopold Fitz, and Jemma Simmons?" The amused voice of Death turned dead serious. Harry felt a chill go down his spine, though he stubbornly refused to shiver. The green-eyed man wouldn't let the cloaked being have the satisfaction of seeing how uncomfortable those words had made him.

"You shouldn't take your new friends for granted, Harry James Potter. And you also shouldn't hurriedly assume that my bringing of you here was only for my benefit. Far from it, actually. But you'll hear more of that later." Death reached up and pulled back his tattered cowl, showing his face to the surprised wizard for the first time.

Harry gaped at the man in front of him. What was once covered by a cloak, was a seemingly middle-aged, though surprisingly fit, silver eyed man. Death's hair color was dark brown, nearly black, and was spiky in various places like it had a mind of its own.

"Surprised to not see an empty skull? Or milky eyes? Or other numerous cliche things people make up about my appearance?" Came the amused voice again, though this time it was accompanied by the raise of an eyebrow.

"What… I mean, I didn't think that you'd look so…" Harry trailed off uncertainly.

"Normal? Not-freakish? Spiffy, even? I can go on all day." Death smirked. "You know, I wasn't _always_ an entity. I lived, I died." The being sighed dramatically before plopping himself down on a nearby bench. "I just didn't stay dead." The silver eyed man grinned, eyes lighting up in an almost familiar way as they fixed on the young wizard still standing nearly two meters away. "Now sit down, we have much to talk about."

Harry walked closer warily, still not trusting the man, but he sat anyway. It didn't appear that he was in any immediate danger, so what the heck. He was a Gryffindor, after all. And he was also determined to find out more about his special circumstances. And here was his chance, assuming he could trust Death.

"Wait, are you actually going to tell me something this time? Or are you just going to spout cryptic sentences and disappear dramatically again." Harry asked with his eyes slightly narrowed. He was startled when the being laughed boisterously.

"I honestly can't believe you asked that. I just cannot believe it." Death gasped for breath, and after another two minutes of chuckling, and bearing Harry's unamused stare, the being finally got a hold of himself. He wiped a tear from his eye. "All these years… and I finally get called out on my behavior. And by a short person with glasses -wait, you don't even have glasses anymore… weird." Death scratched the side of his head in puzzlement.

"And why would my vision correcting itself be such a strange thing?" Harry raised an eyebrow in question, ignoring the mention of how he was somewhat vertically challenged.

"Ah, it's not _that_ big of a deal. By itself. But if your sight suddenly changed back to normal recently, then it's possible it was a side affect of being chosen as my champion…" Death frowned and started mumbling unintelligible things under his breath.

Harry felt that chill again. "Then what…?" He asked, not being able to hold back his question. Something in Death's tone and what he could catch from the mumbles was starting to worry him.

Death blinked and faced the young man again, but this time without his nearly ever present smile. "Then it's possible that some other things have changed about you since the time you were chosen as well."

"What do you mean?" But just as he'd spoken, he had remembered how his magic had gained sentience, and how his magical reserves had enlarged since he had traveled dimensions. And now he was going to find out why.

"Eh, I don't really know how this all happened. But any changes that I had suspected would happen, had involved the Hallows." Death ran a hand through his hair and smiled at Harry uncomfortably. "Kinda why I was here in the first place… because of the Hallows."

Harry glared at the being in front of him. So much for getting new information. Great. "So, that's all you were here for? Nothing about telling me what my _valiant_ quest as your _noble_ champion would include? Just showing me how to use the cursed items that had brought me here in the first place, and away from my own world and every single friend and acquaintance, save for my godson. My three year old godson, who shouldn't even be here." Harry said, voice dripping with heavy sarcasm and irritation.

Death's previously calm gaze turned cold. The being glared at the wizard, and Harry immediately felt paralyzed. He couldn't move. Not even his eyes were able to look away from the silver eyed glare. Harry started to feel an overwhelming sense of hopelessness sink into his gut. And he understood that he was completely outmatched in every way possible. And he knew right then, that there would be no possible way for him to win against Death, even if he managed to break the paralysis.

"Be careful of how you talk, child. And do not just assume that I even have to tell you of the things I already have. Champions have been sent against numerous dangerous enemies with far less preparation than what you have had so far. You should be lucky that I'm even helping you at all, because normally this would not happen." Death stated, carefully neutral. Then the being looked away. The break in eye contact released the paralysis and Harry gasped, trying to fill his lungs with air.

"Harry James Potter." Harry looked up warily. "I never said that you would be alone." Death added with a smirk. Harry frowned in confusion after he had finally caught his breath. "Ah, you'll understand what I mean in time. I'm sure it will be amusing."

"...Why." Harry rasped, all fight already having left him. Leaving him feeling cold, like the sensation during an encounter with a dementor. Except worse, in a way.

"Why what?" Death responded, frowning at Harry.

"Why did you choose me? Over everyone else, why me?" Harry asked in honest confusion. _Why not pick someone who wanted this?_

Death stared at the ground in thought, mulling over what to say in response. The silver eyed entity looked up with a fond smile. "Because you care, and that is more than I can say for most people, myself included."

Harry stared at Death in shock. Not quite comprehending what he had just heard, but he found himself nodding anyway. He still hadn't appreciated all the trouble he had gone through, but as far as excuses went, that wasn't too terrible.

Death suddenly groaned, and slapped a hand onto his forehead, startling Harry. "Listen to me, getting all emotional and crap. At this rate I'll never get to doing what I came here for." Death sighed tiredly, glancing at the young wizard with an expression that would be used by a grandfather talking tall tales to his grandchild. "This sort of thing happens all the time. You'll understand when you get older."

Harry tried not to think too much on any hidden meanings with that last sentence spoken by the older man/entity, if only to save himself a headache. "What _did_ you even come here for? And how long do you plan to keep things stuck in time like this?"

Death blinked. "Oh. Right, the time thing. I _probably_ shouldn't leave it for too much longer, since I don't want you to get older or whatever. And there's also the fact that it's abusing my power, yadda yadda…" Death rolled his eyes. "And that brings me to what originally brought me here."

Harry gave Death his full attention, and he hoped that this would be at least a little helpful, even if it was not what he wanted to know. Some information would be better than complete ignorance.

"I guess I'll start off by asking what you think is the meaning of the Deathly Hallows." Death clasped his hands in his lap, and studied the wizard's face intently.

Harry thought over the question. He wanted to respond quickly with something about how Death gave a Hollow to each of the three Peverell brothers as a way of congratulating them for outsmarting the entity. By using their magic to create a bridge to pass over a deadly river, the three brothers had been presented with the Deathly Hallows.

But that wasn't what the man was asking. He asked for the meaning of the Hollows. _All the knowledge I knew about the things that have changed my life, were from a children's storybook._

"I don't know." Harry admitted softly. It was the truth. Just because all three magical objects of power had been in his possession since he was seventeen, didn't mean that he knew of their purpose. Any experiments that he had done on them to find answers, had only left him with more questions.

One time, when Harry had been eighteen, he had even thrown the Hallows into raging Fiendfyre that he had conjured -with his holly and phoenix feather wand- in an attempt to rid himself of the cursed objects. When he had cut off the magic flow from his wand and the Fiendfyre dispersed, the Hollows had disappeared. But only to reappear the next morning as he woke up in his house. The Invisibility Cloak hung on the coat rack, Resurrection Stone still attached to the Gaunt ring, and on the bedside table where his glasses used to rest before his vision fixed itself. And the Elder Wand under his pillow, within easy reach in case of an emergency.

"The meaning of the Deathly Hallows is to find a person whose only ambition is to protect the innocent, even at the cost of their own lives. Someone who has never searched for immortality, or for power merely to feed their own greed." Death's silver orbs fixed on the wizard. His voice was dead serious. "But you are the only one to be found this way. Congratulations." Death gave a small grin at Harry, who was silent.

"Oh! I almost forgot." Death said, slightly embarrassed. "I kinda really only came here to tell you that you can now fully use the Deathly Hallows. Now enjoy that crap." Death got up and reached out an arm to the sky, gathering his power to dispel the time-warp.

"Wait!" Harry called out impulsively. Death lowered his hand, the being's power dissipating back into the world as he raised a dark brow at the wizard. "You didn't specify what the changes were." Harry said in a decidedly much calmer tone.

"Oh. Right. Weeeeell, I guess I've never been one to dwell on the details of things... and stuff." Death grinned at Harry again as he plopped back down on the bench. Not seeming to care in the least about the disturbed look the far younger man was sending him. "Um, yeah. So… The Hallows were kinda restricted in their power before you got them all together again. I mean, obviously! I can't just have any old psycho-hobo off the street picking them up and like, destroying the world, or whatever! I might be not all there in the head, but I'm not stupid."

"Yeah, yeah, I know I'm getting off track. Shush." The seemingly middle-aged man frowned at a perplexed Harry, who had just opened his mouth to ask another question, before promptly closing it again.

"Mmhm. Well, for example: the Stone, before your little trip through the Veil, could only show, like, images of the people you wanted to see. Transparent versions of people from what you had _already_ known about them. Heh, I guess it was a bit similar to the mirror of Erised. _Showing only your greatest desires._ " Death suddenly turned cheerful. "And did you know that Erised is really just 'desire' spelled backwards? Cool, huh?" Death then rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "At least it's cool until you become obsessed with looking at lies and waste away in front of a _dang mirror,_ of all things."

"You're saying that the Stone… could make people lose all hope to live, just the the mirror of Erised?" Harry asked slowly. If that was true, then was it wrong of him to have used the Stone all the times that he had in the past few years that he'd had it?

"Uh… duh. That's what is was originally designed to do." Death raised both of his eyebrows. "Why do you think it was given away to the middle brother? As a trap, obviously. The three brothers had basically cheated Death out of his dues, and so they weren't going to get out of that situation alive. Only the third brother, the youngest and wisest, managed to stay out of Death's claws." The being said with an odd smirk.

Harry thought that the way Death had talked about the Three Brothers was strange. _Wait… did he just talk about himself in the third person?_ Harry stared at the being even more intently than before, mostly in morbid curiosity. _I guess he's more insane than he had first appeared to be._

"So that's what the Stone was before I went through the Veil. What is it now?" Harry asked, even though he wasn't certain he even wanted to know anymore. This person-thing was _seriously_ not right in the noggin. And not in a Luna kind of way, but in a psychotic-drug-addict-eats-someone's-face way, except without the bath salts.

"Now it is what it was _thought_ to have been before the Veil, but was not because it wasn't." Death smiled, showing teeth.

Harry stared. "Were you dropped on your head frequently as a baby, or did you eat paint chips when you were little?" He asked simply. Still staring.

"Yes. I mean-no, what. I was never anything other than what I am, _except_ for when I was not. So I was totally not anything, and never a child." Death crossed his legs and folded his hands in his lap. Looking the definition of relaxed and collected.

"Denial is not just a river in Egypt, you know."

"And you're an annoying, little turd." Death retorted elegantly.

"How old are you, again?"

"I am _so old,_ that I am _senile._ So therefore, I'm practically a kid again. Reverse aging. Yeah. It's totally a real not-thing." Death said, face completely devoid of anything to tell of emanating sarcasm.

Harry stared at Death. Death stared back. Harry blinked, rubbing his forehead to keep back the quickly approaching migraine. _What in the potato had just happened…?_

"As pleasant as talking to you was, or getting out of the office, and smelling the…" Death sniffed the New York air, "... _pollution_. I have just _got_ to be leaving now." The being's silver eyes were filled with exuberance as he stood up from the bench, again, and shook a stunned Harry's hand. "Nothing else really changed, like Hallow-wise, other than more power, so you need more responsibility and whatnot. And I kinda just figured that stuff out pretty recently and used it on the spot as somewhat of an excuse so I could meet you like this without you getting mad and yelling at me."

"What." Harry managed to get out through his mental-paralysis, Death still shaking his hand.

"Okay, bye now." Death finally let go of the absent-minded wizard's arm, and promptly walked away. "Say hello to that adorable Metamorphamagi for me. Sorry for that thing I did to him when I transported you two. I couldn't have him dying off from the portal, and all that. I think I really did you a favor, and it's not like you hadn't already adopted him. I just made it a bit more… permanent. Anyways, have a good day!" Death grinned once again, and winked at the flabbergasted Master of Death.

Harry shook off the shock, and ran after the being. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?! Tell me what you meant by-"

Death reached out his arm, his hand in a fist. Letting his fingers uncoil, power escaped from inside the opened hand. Death gave one last, sarcastic salute, and disappeared as shadows enveloped the pavement where he had been standing. Time moved on again like nothing had ever happened. People pushed by where Harry stood, transfixed, on the sidewalk.

"Watch where you're going, kid. You're taking up the whole walkway. If ya got issues, go see someone about it. Sheesh." A dark haired man grumbled as he walked around Harry, eyeing the young man like he was on drugs or something. The random person kept on walking with a shake of his head.

Harry sighed as he stepped out of direct foot traffic. "Well, anyone that I told about my problems would probably only laugh." He looked into the sky, trying to remember a time when his life had made sense. There wasn't. "I guess it's time to finally accept what's been repeatedly shown to me for a long time. My life will never be normal."

* * *

 _ **FiveYears Previously~**_

A young woman in a dark gray sweatshirt, with the hood pulled up, leaned against the bricks of a building in an alleyway. She was completely inconspicuous in the shaded area, which was exactly what she was going for. She didn't want to get into any legal trouble for what she was about to do.

The young woman, barely out of her teens, was a hacker. And a pretty good one at that. She had grown up without anyone and she didn't need anyone. She was her own person, and no one would ever control her. She had found people who respected her for her talents in hacking, and she was happy. Even though that obviously wouldn't last long, just like nothing lasted long with her around, but she could at least enjoy the feeling while she had it.

Two burly men -thugs, the woman thought with slight amusement- walked into the alley, and nodded in her direction. They were wearing baseball caps and sunglasses. The taller one with a Yankee's cap was carrying a dark blue duffle bag, while the shorter one -who was whistling something that sounded like Mozart- sported a Browns' cap.

She didn't say anything in greeting and reached a hand into her sweatshirt pocket, pulling out a flash drive. "Your Intel on that rival gang of yours is in this." The tall, Yankee's fan, stepped forward to take the flash drive, but the woman jerked her arm back. "Ah, ah. Give me the green first." The other man tossed the duffel bag over to her, after a quick, shared glance with his partner.

The woman pulled the bag closer with her foot, and kept her eyes on the two men as she checked to make sure that she hadn't been shorted anything. It was all there. She gave the two men her full attention. "Here, enjoy." She said as she tossed the flash drive, which was deftly caught by the short Browns' fan. "Make sure to put my hard work to good use, 'kay?" She called out as they turned to leave, and smiled slightly as the man who'd tossed her the duffel bag, the one with the Yankee's cap, turned and tipped the small rim of his hat in her direction.

"A pleasure doing business with you. Don't get into any trouble." He waved behind himself as he and his partner made to leave again.

"That's something that you should be telling yourself." She said, loud enough for the two men to hear. The woman grinned as she heard them chuckle.

"Take care of yourself." The Brown's fan said, honest concern in his voice. The young woman rolled her eyes, but couldn't help the smile that curled her lips at the man's worry.

When she was sure they had left, the woman pulled back her hood and started walking down the sidewalk. Her hair was a pleasant brown color and long enough to go past her shoulders. Her eyes were a strange hazel, somewhere between a dark blue and a light green. The color seeming to change depending on the light, so when asked what her eye color was as a child, she had never been able to answer to her satisfaction. Which, coupled with not knowing her birth parents, served to frustrate her beyond comprehension.

She breathed in the early morning air, taking strength from the feeling of living in a large city where she could disappear in a crowd at any time. Strangely enough, it seemed that the larger the amount of people there were in one place, the less they socialized with one another. But that was why she liked cities, because they were the perfect place for someone who didn't want to be seen. Who didn't want connections.

The young woman walked down the sidewalk, duffel bag slung over her shoulder, with no clear destination ahead. _Maybe I'll get some Chinese food at that one place, before heading back to the van._ She thought to herself. Humming an upbeat tune under her breath, the woman continued on with considerable more energy than she'd had recently.

Now that she had money again, she could stop rationing whatever cheap food she had managed to scrounge up with her previously sad amount of funds. _Oh! And maybe I can get my laptop upgraded as well, and of course get some new clothes…_ her thoughts trailed off as she spotted someone standing on the sidewalk a little ways away, the bulky man was smirking as he looked in her direction.

For a second she was sure he was looking at someone behind her, but then she remembered that this part of town was practically abandoned so early in the morning. This revelation sent chills down her spine. _Who was it that had sent someone after me? And why?_

Just as she was about to ask what the man was doing there, she felt strong arms grab her, and a hand cover her mouth. Her eyes widened, and she tried to struggle out of the second man's grip, dropping her duffel bag on the ground. He merely chuckled at her feeble attempts to escape, and dragged her to a nearby alley. She looked around desperately, hoping with everything that she had, that someone would notice and help her. But there was no one.

The man she had first seen on the road walked into the dark alley as well, and pulled out a gun from his waistband, her bag resting on his other arm. He pressed the handgun against her head. "Now listen here, you little _hacker_ , my friend will release his hold in a minute. But there will be _no_ screaming, and _no_ running. Not that it would do much good." The man ended with a smirk, showing a single, black tooth. She nodded, her eyes starting to prickle with tears caused by the fear and stress of having the cold barrel of a gun against her temple.

The man who had previously just ambushed her immediately let her go, and she backed up slightly to keep both men in her sights. The second man, now that she saw his face, had an apathetic expression and a large scar stretched across one eye. She eyed him, and the first man -who was smirking smugly- warily. "What do you want with me?"

"Oh? Who said you could ask questions? Oh well, I want to get this over with quickly. We want to know how you hacked our accounts. There was no way an amateur like you could've gotten past our firewalls." The apparent leader of the duo asked arrogantly. The woman opened her mouth to object, but the man began to speak again, cutting her off. "Tell us who you're working for, and we'll let you go."

"I-I'm not working for anyone, I swear! This was just a favor for a friend." She crossed her arms, suddenly feeling defensive of her skills. "And I got past the firewalls myself, and without _anyone's_ help. I work alone." She met the first man's gaze without backing down. His smirk turned into a scowl.

"Oh yeah? Between friends, you said?" He roughly threw her bag on the ground between them, unzipping it to reveal neatly stacked bills, about five thousand dollars in total. "Would a friend give you all this for a little _favor?_ "

It was a small gig, but it was what she could get. But now she wished that she hadn't been paid at all, it would've been much better if the guys from before had just taken the flash drive without paying. But she knew they wouldn't have done that to her, which was why she had made a deal with them in the first place. She usually didn't like to deal with gangs at all, but those two were what caused her to make an exception.

"Ahh, isn't that what friends do? Help each other out with bills and such?" She said nervously, slowly backing away. But she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder, keeping her in place. _Shoot, I forgot about the second guy for a second. This probably won't end well._ She thought with a mental grimace.

The sudden sound of multiple footsteps running closer startled her. She looked to the entrance of the alley to see three men run in, chattering excitedly and pupils dilated from a recent adrenaline rush. Two were carrying guns, the third with a knife… a knife covered in blood. The young hacker held a hand up to her face, turning away. She felt sick. And worried. About herself, or the others she had left at the exchange, she didn't know.

The leader turned to the new men with his smirk back in place. "Did you get what I asked?" He questioned with a psychotic gleam in his eye.

One of the newcomers gave a thumbs up and tossed a small object at the leader. The smirking man caught it, and the hacker gasped as she recognized the flash drive she had had in her possession less than thirty minutes ago. _What happened to those two?_

"Did any trash get in your way?" The leader asked, pointedly looking at the blood-stained knife.

"Not really, Cap'n." One of the new men with a gun responded, tossing two baseball caps on the ground in the center of the small group.

The hacker stared at the bloodied ball caps -one Yankee, and the other Browns- for several moments, not comprehending. Then she suddenly felt something wet dripping down her cheek. She reached up a trembling hand to her face and when she withdrew the hand, she saw the tears. She closed her eyes and fell to her knees, the man behind her had taken his hand off of her shoulder and gave her some space. She wasn't going to be making a run for it any time soon.

"Ready to talk now, little hacker?" The leader of the gang asked. He walked over and lifted her head gently with his hand, smirking at the hopeless look in her eyes. "Were those two weaklings of that pathetic excuse for a gang _really_ your friends?" She looked away, making the leader guffaw. He let her go, and turned to his men. "She was _seriously_ friends with that _trash!_ " He addressed his followers, drawing laughter from the assembled men.

"Shut up."

The leader turned back to her, tilting his head with his eyebrows raised in mock surprise. "What did you say? Does the little hacker feel all angsty about those feeble, little weaklings? I bet you didn't even know their _names._ " The man scoffed in disdain.

The hacker lowered her head. He was right. She didn't know their names. And she never told them her name. _Yet they cared about me. Me, a complete stranger. Even the matrons at the orphanage hadn't been that sincere in their concern. And what good did it do them?_ She felt ashamed. How dare she call them her friends when it was her fault that they were killed. She started to silently cry, tears running down her face as knelt on the firm ground. Then she stared at the baseball caps, and a strange calm overtook her mind.

"Yeah, and you should've seen how the tall guy reacted when we told them you two was going after the girl, priceless! He was bleeding out, there on the pavement, and all he could say was 'just let her go, she's _just_ a _kid_ '..." The thug said the last of his sentence in a high, mocking voice, making the rest of the men nearly double over in harsh laughter.

The young woman twitched, and quickly stood up and ran at the speaker with a burst of speed fueled by righteous fury. She quickly reached him, and catching him off guard, she viciously kneed him in the groin. The hacker smirked in satisfaction as she heard his pained howls, even as she was pulled back and her arms restrained behind her back.

"They were good men, and a _thousand_ times better than any of you could ever even dream of being!" She yelled in defiance, her unique eyes holding a fire to them.

The leader swaggered up to her, and stared, his face unreadable. She spat at his feet, and glared at him, _daring_ him, to do _something._ He sneered, and raised his hand to strike her. The hacker closed her eyes, expecting the blow to come, and accepting it. Only it didn't.

She looked up, startled, as the leader of the gang stumbled backwards with a yelp. All the gang members were looking around frantically. She was confused, until she saw the leader's hand that had been about to hit her, covered in boils. From where she sat on the concrete, she stared about herself blankly. The men around her paying her no mind as they spun around in circles in an attempt to spot their mysterious attacker. _What…?_ She thought, thinking on the sudden appearance of the boils, _how is that possible?_

"Didn't your mother ever tell you it wasn't polite to hit a lady?" An amused voice came from somewhere behind the young hacker. Her eyes widened and she turned to see a shaggy figure standing behind her. He looked like he had been through hell; the man's clothes were ripped in numerous places, there was a gash across his forehead, that looked like it had been bleeding for a while now, and she could see he was favoring his right leg. But despite all that, he stood with a determination in his silver eyes that would make anyone envious.

 _He looks like a lion, protecting his pride from rogues,_ the hacker mused to herself. She looked up at him to see him wink at her. Then, the strange man grinned with gleeful excitement, and brandished a stick at the gang members. _...or maybe he's just an insane hobo that ran into a pack of feral dogs,_ the hacker amended.

The gang laughed at the shaggy man that had saved her. "You coming at us with a stick? A stick!" The leader exclaimed. He pulled out his gun, aiming it almost lazily at the young woman and the strange man. The hacker flinched backwards, involuntarily moving closer to the man standing protectively behind where she was still curled up on the ground. The leader of the gang put his finger on the trigger.

" _Protego!_ " The man behind her yelled, and a burst of blue light that originated from the man's stick -no, wand- filled the dim alleyway. She stared in amazement as the shield not only stopped the bullet, but vaporized it as well. She looked up at the man, seeing surprise on his face as well. Then his face hardened, and he turned back to the now-terrified gang members.

* * *

 _ **Ten Minutes Earlier (still in the five years before the rest of the story)**_

"Sirius, no!" He heard his godson scream as he fell backwards through the Veil of Death. Bellatrix's last spell cutting across his forehead and leaving him wincing from the pain, even as he fell through the dark depths into certain death. _As good a way to die as any. Heroic, dramatic and awesome. Not a bad way to die at all.._ Sirius thought to himself as he lost consciousness.

He wasn't sure how long he had been drifting in the seemingly endless void of blackness. But he must have finally stopped somewhere, because suddenly he felt the ground underneath him. And he felt his wounds start to ache. Sirius didn't open his eyes. He was afraid of what he would see.

The Veil of Death was something that had always secretly terrified him when he had worked as an Auror for the Ministry. Many stories had been told about the cursed archway; including one that had claimed Death itself had placed it there; for unknown, and most likely sinister reasons. Though, most stories about how the Veil got there involved Troll cults, or government conspiracies.

Sirius was afraid to open his eyes, because he had no idea what rumors were the truth, or even if any of them were anywhere close to the real deal. He heard someone walking nearby where he sprawled, on what appeared to feel like concrete. He stiffened slightly as the footsteps stopped next to him, but the animagus still refused to open his eyes. He just didn't want to accept whatever had happened. Not yet.

"Good, you're alive. I was worried for a bit, but I guess I really didn't have to. Bloody Gryffindors. Anyways, try to stay alive, and somewhat mentally alright, for a few more years. I'll try to bring him here, too, after he gathers all three of the gifts." The voice of the person who was standing close to him sounded… amused? Sirius slowly opened his aching eyes, only to widen them as he spotted that the man -no, thing- was wearing a tattered black cloak, with a dark shadow covering up the person-thing's face.

"W-what…?" Sirius managed to rasp out, staring at the cloaked figure in confusion. His mind was a bit fuzzy from losing blood, but he felt more and more energy start to return to his limbs the longer he was awake.

"Good! You are recovering much faster than I had anticipated, which is good. And try to get up soon, because you really don't want to be picked up by any peacekeeping organizations here. They are certifiably wacky. Anyways, just don't die and stuff. Ciao!" The cloaked being said in exuberance, and dissolved into the shadows, just as Sirius had finally managed to sit up.

The Black sighed, looking around his surroundings to try and find something he recognized. Everything was unfamiliar, and he looked to have been dropped off in the middle of a large city. Glancing at the slowly lightening sky above his head, he determined it to be currently in the early hours of the morning. _No time to think on what that was about. Right now I need to find some place to hide out._ Sirius thought, and stood up with a groan, his stuff muscles protesting his movement.

The shaggy man looked around, and let out a relieved sigh as he found the blackthorn wand on the ground a meter away from where he had been laying. The wand wasn't his favorite, just a replacement for the one that had been snapped when he had been wrongly thrown in Azkaban. But it worked, and it was a weapon. So that was good enough for the moment.

He pocketed the wand in his torn jacket and limped through the back alleys, deciding to tend to his wounds when he had found cover. Sirius stopped when he passed by an alley with two forms sprawled on the ground. Seeing the blood, he rushed over, not being able to help his Gryffindor disorder, and not feeling the need to do so. He knew enough of first-aid to at least keep someone from dying until help came, so he felt obligated to help out.

Stopping first to check on the shorter of the two, he felt for a pulse. Finding no heartbeat, Sirius lowered his head. Whoever had murdered these people were lucky they were already gone, since the signs obviously showed the two men were outnumbered. The man he had just checked over had been shot in the back. It hurt Sirius's ego to think that another human being could've done something so cowardly. _Like a Slytherin._

Gently closing the eyes of the deceased man to give respect, Sirius grimly moved on to the taller of the two men. A hand shot up as he reached down to check the second man's pulse, startling Sirius. The man on the ground moved his lips, trying to form words, but the blood that coated the ground showed that the stranger had very little time left. _Too late for first aid to do anything helpful,_ Sirius thought grimly.

The man on the ground coughed, and a stream of blood ran down his chin. He weakly motioned for Sirius to come closer, and the Marauder obliged the dying man. Leaning closer, with his ear right next to the glazed eyes man's mouth, Sirius heard the man whisper.

"There's a young girl. N-not far from here, most likely. S-she had nothing to do with our problems… just helping out… a good kid. A... good heart, she… has. You… do, too. Not… many would… stop. Rare people… the two… of you." The man rasped, barely loud enough to make out. Then he slumped backwards, the last of his energy spent.

Sirius could see the man was only seconds away from meeting the maker, and so he decided what he would do. "Don't worry about her, I'll make sure to save her. I'm just that sort of guy. So stop worrying, and go in peace." The Black softly answered the stranger. The animagus watched as the man relaxed, and, with a smile, exhaled his last breath.

Sirius felt adrenaline rush through him as he stood up from the ground, and he smirked in anticipation. _Nothing like getting back into the good work of saving people._ He then frowned. _So much for trying to stay under the radar… oh well._ Pulling out his wand, he started running down the brightening street. Using his enhanced sense of smell to follow the smell of blood -an ability that came from being a highly skilled canine animagus- and he set off. He had a damsel in distress to rescue.

* * *

The hacker stared in disbelief at the five unconscious gang members on the ground. She quickly looked up at the man who had knocked them out -and all with a magic wand. She felt like she was in a comic book. "Unreal." She whispered.

"Ha… well, I guess that the level of… my… awesomeness is pretty unbelievable." The shaggy man grinned tiredly at her. That was when the young woman realized he was barely standing up. _Right, he had looked wounded earlier._ She quickly ran over to him and supported him with his arm over her shoulder. She frowned as she saw the blood. _How did he even fight like this? He shouldn't even be conscious!_

"Man, we really should get you to a hospital." She said worriedly, concerned about how heavy his breath was becoming.

His eyes widened, and shook his head, causing him to wince at the pain that that action caused. "No. No hospitals. I can't…"

"Why not? You're injured!" The hacker started to walk them in the direction of the nearest hospital, half carrying the strange man.

"Can't… let them find me…" the man wheezed out, making her even more worried about his condition. He looked into her eyes, and she could see the pleading in there.

She looked away uncomfortably. "Okay, I won't take you to the hospital." She turned them both around, going to where she had left her van not too far from where they were currently.

"I'm Sirius."

"...what?" She stared at him, certain that she had heard wrong. "I already know that you're serious about not going to the hospital, like a normal, sane person would be inclined to do if they were in your situation. So shut up already." She rolled her eyes.

The man blinked. "Oh. No, that's my name. Sirius Black." He clarified. He was able to talk easier now that she was assisting him in walking.

"Well, with a name like that, you really should try to explain it better." She raised an eyebrow at him as she carried on, half dragging him. The shaggy -no, Sirius- merely snorted at her comment. The hacker debated on telling him her own name, since she hardly told anyone the name she had made up for herself after she disliked the one she had been assigned at the orphanage. But... he had saved her, after all. And he'd even done that while he was _already_ injured. Since he seemed like someone who she could trust, and also would not die very easily, she made her choice.

"My name's Skye." She said softly. Sirius grinned at her, and nodded, seeming to understand what she had just mentally debated about. He seemed like a pretty cool person. _Hopefully he won't disappear like everyone else I had gotten close to,_ Skye thought as she hiked the duffel bag up higher on the opposite shoulder from the one she was supporting Sirius with; two stained baseball caps could be seen sticking partially out of the bag.

Skye looked at the man, and felt content that she wouldn't be alone anymore. Whatever the future brought, she would take it like the beaches on the coast take the rising tide. She would hold fast no matter what, like she always had. But now she had a friend that would have her back.

* * *

 _ **Present Time**_

" _You may try to hide the truth, to conceal it from the world. But_ we _know, and we will expose all of your secrets." A feminine voice rang out through the background of a video playing various clips of superpowered fight scenes from around the world, the most prominent broadcasting was of the Avengers taking out aliens in New York._

" _SHIELD may try to keep us from doing what is right, from the truth about all the real dangers in our world. But they will fail. No one can stop us." The young woman's voice rose in pitch, growing louder as the unseen female began to attempt to sway the listeners of the hacked broadcast._

" _We are the Rising Tide, and_ nothing _will stop us." An amused, older, and distinctly male voice ended the commentary. The video ended with a last, hazy clip of a masked vigilante with a spiderweb design on his outfit attempting to fight a man who was transformed into a lizard, all while sporting a bullet wound in one leg._

Once the recording had ended, the SHIELD agent who had observed the video frowned. The Rising Tide was one of many of the recent hacktivist groups that were being formed. But this was was one that looked to be causing the most trouble. And even though this group had -so far- kept their hands clean of anything too underhanded, it would be better to keep an eye on them, just in case.

Agent Phil Coulson could already see the trouble that could be caused by a group like this, if the files of one of the identified members was anything to go by. He glanced at the back folder on his desk, _0-8-4,_ the title read. Opening the file, Coulson was greeted with the blurry image of the smiling face of a shaggy, dark haired man grinning at someone not included in the photo. The man had silver eyes, and a slight scar running across the top of his forehead. "Where did you come from…?" The agent said, trying to piece together in his head what he knew, and he could feel that the answer was right in front of him.

* * *

 _ **A.N.: This chapter took a lot of effort from me (like staying awake past 4:00am). So if you don't like it, I will hunt you down and... give you cookies. ;)**_

 _ **This was my longest chapter that I have ever written, and I really hope you guys like it. I don't think of myself as a very good writer, but writing fanfiction has really helped me improve. And all the reviews, follows, favorites, and being added to communities has been really fantastic. I hope I won't let you guys down. Thank you all so, so much.**_

 _ **Alternate chapter titles, credit for the idea goes to kathryn518, used in her story:**_ **I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.**

 _"The top dog of hobos." -Sirius Black_

 ** _"Looks like I finally found a crazy uncle." -Skye_**

 **"Death took a walk down the road of life." -Cloaked dude of Awesome**

 _"My life is way too confusing, and I just can't even odd." -Confunded-Emo Potter_

 ** _"Why am I not in this chapter...?" -Sad Teddy Lupin_**

 **"Ditto." -An Agreeable Luna Lovegood**

 _"Am I sane, now?" -Coulson_

 ** _"In a loose sense of the word, yes." -Doctor Potter_**

 **\\_(-_-)_/**

 **Oh my cheese, Sirius and Skye are in the house! Ahhhhhhh! O.O**

 **Thank you mommy, God, Jesus, and cake.**

 **Oh, and thank you bacon.**


End file.
